A New Life
by NinjaMelissa
Summary: Mel and Zane Julien have moved into their new home and now have two kids on the way. All seems well for the couple, but the twins are growing extremely quickly and the Juliens' have been captured by an unknown enemy. Can the Juliens' escape before the twins are born, or will they fall under the foe's control?
1. Chapter 1

(Zane's POV)

I woke up before she did, like always. She cuddled against my chest and smiled. I tried to slowly slip out of her grasp but she cuddled closer to me. I smiled and managed to get her to cuddle with my pillow instead. I kissed her forehead and went to the kitchen to make everyone breakfast. As I started on the pancakes, I thought about our plans for the day. My new wife, Mel, and I were moving into our new home in only a few hours. We'd been planning it since before Sarah and Cole's wedding, and now it finally was coming true. We had almost everything packed up, only needing our clothes to box up.

As I finished up the pancakes, Sarah and Cole walked into the living room. "Good morning, Zane" Sarah said with a yawn. "Good morning" I replied with a smile. "You excited about today?" Cole asked. "Very much so. Mel and I have been waiting for this for quite a long time now." I replied. "Got everything packed and ready to go?" Sarah asked. "We just need to pack our clothing, once she wakes up of course." I said, casting a look to our bedroom. Sarah and Cole helped make the table while I brought out our breakfast. Eventually Kai and Gabby walked in, enticed by the smell, I guess. Not long after, Nya and Jay came in, holding hands and smiling. "It smells wonderful, Zane!" Nya said. "Thank you." I replied.

Just then, I felt arms around my waist and a kiss on my cheek. "Good morning, Zane." Mel said. I smiled and kissed her back. "Good morning. Are you ready for today?" I asked. She smiled and nodded as Izzy and Lloyd entered last. "What smells so good?" Izzy asked. "Pancakes." I replied. Everyone sat down at the table next to their spouses. "So, when are you guys moving out?" Lloyd asked us. Mel and I looked at one another. "In a few hours," she said "we want to get everything unpacked as soon as possible." I overheard Gabby whisper to Kai, "I bet that's not all she wants to do." Mel shot Gabby an angry look and looked away, blushing bright red. Kai laughed at the two.

After everyone was finished eating, Mel and I headed back to our room to finish packing. "What did Gabby mean?" I asked her. Mel blushed a deep red and nervously laughed. "Don't lose your innocence, Zane." she said, looking away. We started to pack our clothing into the cardboard boxes, and I started to get butterflies in my stomach. As we packed, Mel started humming a song from our wedding. She walked over to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. We started to dance slowly as she hummed the song happily. Halfway through the song, she dipped me and we kissed. After we stopped to catch our breaths, we kept dancing slowly, both of us humming the song with joy. Near the end of the song, she rested her head on my chest and sighed. "You are the love of my life, Zane." she said. I lifted her chin up and kissed her. "You are my other half." I said after we kissed. She smiled and hugged me.

At that moment, we heard cooing from the doorway. We looked up in shock and saw the girls smiling at us. "They are so cute!" Nya said. "Looks like they're getting some sugar from each other!" Sarah said with a smile. "It always starts with kissing.." Gabby started to say before Mel yelled at her. "Gabby! Stop saying that!" I looked between them, confused. "That's not what we're here for Gabby! Mel, Zane" Sarah said "we wanted to give you two something." Mel and I looked at them in confusion. "What?" I asked. Nya, Izzy, Sarah and Gabby smiled and revealed a shadow box from our wedding. Mel's wedding dress and bouquet were placed neatly next to my black tux. Mel gasped and smiled at the gift. "It's wonderful!" she said. "Thank you all. This is amazing." I said. Sarah handed it to us and we looked at the shadow box. "Thank you so much!" Mel said happily. "It was no problem. Kind of a 'thank you' for everything that you two have done for us." Sarah replied. "Well, we better leave you alone so you can finish packing." Nya said. "Uh-huh..." Gabby said, looking at Mel with a devious smile. "Gabby..." Mel growled.

The other girls pushed Gabby out of the room and down the hall quickly. "I'll get that girl if she keeps talking like that..." Mel grumbled. I placed the box onto our bed and held her against my chest. It seemed to calm her down considerably, I'm the only person who can do that. Mel sighed, "I guess your right, Zane." "But I didn't say anything." I said, confused. "You don't have to, you just know how to make me feel better." she said. I smiled and kissed her again. "We better finish so we can head to our new home." I said. She smiled and kissed me one last time before packing up the rest of her clothes. Later, when everything was packed up, she transported the boxes to our home in rural Ninjago. We headed out to the living room where everyone was waiting. "Everything's packed?" Nya asked. We nodded and smiled. "We're going to miss you guys!" Sarah said sadly. "We'll miss you too." I said. Everyone got up and hugged us. Soon, we said our goodbyes, then smiled and waved at them. Mel held my hand and our friends disappeared and were replaced with an empty living room filled with cardboard boxes. We looked around at the boxes and sighed. "Now for the fun part, unpacking!" Mel said sarcastically. I smiled and headed for the nearest box and opened it up. "You're right, this will be fun. We get to choose where everything goes." I said, smiling. Mel looked over her shoulder at me, saw my smile and laughed. "You're right. Let's get started."


	2. Chapter 2

After everything was unpacked, we sat on the couch, out of breath. "This is so nice." she said, resting her head on my shoulder. I smiled and held her close. "I have a surprise for you." I said. She looked at me with excitement. "What?" she asked. I helped her up and walked into the kitchen, pulling out a picnic basket. She gasped and ran into my arms, hugging me. "This is wonderful! When will we go?" she asked excitedly. "Since we're done unpacking, right now." I said smiling. She squealed with joy and held the basket as I took us to a nice, romantic spot by a large stream. There were a few trees by it, including a willow and several cherry trees in bloom. I unfolded the blanket underneath the willow tree as she placed the basket on the ground. We sat down and I unpacked the lunch. There were sandwiches and mixed fruit bowls, as well as a bottle of wine. She laid against my side as we relaxed in the shade. I poured us a few glasses of wine and toasted to our new life together. She happily agreed and we drank.

Lesson learned the hard way: nindroids can't get drunk, but partial nindroids can. She kept drinking the wine, but it started to go to her head not that long after. She wouldn't stop laughing and kept rolling down the hill towards the stream. "Zane! You've got to try this!" she called to me as she ran up the hill again. "Mel, be careful!" I called. But she kept rolling down, and stopped at the bottom. Right next to the stream. She started to laugh and jumped into the water, splashing around and getting completely soaked. "Come on, Zane! You've got to try this!" she laughed. I chuckled at her silliness, and walked down the hill towards her. She saw and cheered, calling to me to join her. As I reached the water, she submerged herself and swam out further. "If you want to catch me, you'll have to get wet, Zane!" she called out. I didn't realize the extent of her drunkness until she took off her dress, leaving only her undergarments on. "Zaaaane!" she called. I noticed the depth of the large stream and dove in, after taking off my shirt and pants. I swam over and went behind her. I surfaced and she didn't notice. "Zaaaaane! Where did you go?" she called out again.

I grabbed her and pulled her to the shore. She squealed and started splashing me. "Mel!" I said, before I got a mouthful of water. She giggled and broke free, swimming further out. I had to swim after her before she could hurt herself. "Come on, Zane! You can't catch me!" she laughed. I dove under the water and surfaced behind her. I noticed her dress floating nearby and grabbed it before grabbing her. Again she squealed with joy, but this time just floated along as I dragged her to the shore. She climbed out, soaked from head to toe and laughing. I climbed out and sat next to her, completely wet as well. I summoned several towels and a new dress for her. "Mel, come on. You need to dry off." I told her. She giggled and looked back to the water, so I grabbed one of the towels and started to dry her off. She giggled and started to dry me off too. I quietly laughed and helped her put on her new dress. As I dressed myself, she raced up the hill towards the tree. "Can't catch me!" she yelled. I raced after her, feeling like I never have before. I felt free, full of happiness, and best of all: human. I felt like I don't have a metal skeleton, or a power-source instead of a heart. I chased after her, laughing and feeling the wind around us. I finally caught up to her, and she pulled me into a kiss. We watched the sunset and stayed there until it got almost too dark to see, so I helped her to her feet and got the picnic supplies from under the tree, and we teleported home.

Once we were in the living room, she collapsed onto the couch. She looked at me and smiled. I headed into the kitchen to wash the dishes when I heard her say something. I looked through the window into the living room and saw her holding light blue and white flowers. She smiled at them and laughed quietly. I turned back and started to wash the dishes, when I felt arms around my waist. Then Mel came between the sink and me and held up the flowers. "For you, my love." she said with a smile. I placed the flowers in a vase by the windows and turned back to the sink. Mel reached over and took my hands before I could finish washing. She led me away from the kitchen and pulled me to our bedroom. I became confused, not knowing what she was planning. She placed one hand on my waist, the other on my shoulder and started to spin slowly around me. She picked up her speed until she was completely dizzy. Then she fell onto our bed and held her head laughing. "I am so...dizzy!" she giggled. "Maybe you should rest?" I asked her. She shook her head and tried to stand, only to fall on top of me. I blushed, but smiled at her as she tried to stand. "That didn't go too well!" she said, smiling. I helped her back onto the bed when she grabbed my hands and pulled me down. She wrapped her arms around me and cuddled into my chest. I kissed her and we fell asleep in each other's arms.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up to hear Mel groaning the next morning. "Mel? Are you alright?" I asked. It took some time for her to respond. "Ugh, no. I have an immense headache!" she moaned, "What happened yesterday?" "You got drunk." I told her. She moaned again, "Great. On the first day we move in together, I get drunk and probably made a complete fool of myself!" I laughed quietly. "What's so funny?" she asked. "Not a fool." I said "You just thought of everything as being funny." She looked at me with a confused expression. "What does that mean?" she asked. "You wouldn't stop laughing, even when nothing happened. You kept rolling down the hill and even jumped into the stream by our spot. It was actually quite enjoyable." I said.

She smiled, and rolled onto her back and looked at the ceiling. I wrapped my arms around her, and held her close. "What would you like to do today?" I asked. She looked over to me, "I really don't know. How about we explore the forest behind our house?" I nodded and smiled at a little secret I knew. There's a clear blue lake in the forest, and I knew the trail to get to it. "When will we go?" she asked. "As soon as you feel better." I replied. "Hand me my spell book and I'll be fine in an hour." she smiled, but I could tell it was forced. Even though I didn't want to leave her, I got up and headed towards the bookshelf and pulled out the leather bound book. I headed back to our room and found her already with several items necessary for her spell. She looked up and I handed it to her. "Thank you." she said. She flipped through the pages as I sat down next to her. "Here it is." she said. She combined the ingredients, and chanted the spell. Her hands glowed and she rested them on the items wrapped in a washcloth. Soon, her hands stopped glowing and she collapsed onto me. "That...took...a lot...of energy." she panted. I made her rest on her back as I put the cloth on her forehead. She looked at me, exhausted. "I'll...be fine...just...wake me...in an hour." she said as she fell asleep. _It must've taken all her energy to try to heal that fast_. I thought.

I kissed her and walked out to the living room, then I heard the phone ring. "Hello?" I asked. "Zane?" It was Sarah. "Yes, it's me. What's going on?" "Just checking in on you two." "Everything's going well. Mel is resting in our bedroom as we speak." "That's nice to hear. Cole and I are heading out on our tour in a few hours, so we wanted to say goodbye." "Where are you two traveling to?" "All the different continents." "Sounds like fun." "Yeah, it's going to be nice, just the two of us." "How are the others?" "Well, Jay and Nya are moving out in a few days and Kai's still anxious about the whole thing." "Of course." "Lloyd confessed about his secret stash of candy after you two left, and we stole the candy from him. He's been trying to find it ever since." "Sounds like him." "Other than that, it's been kinda quiet since you two moved out. What about you guys?" "Mel and I finished unpacking within a few hours, then headed out on a picnic." "Aw, sounds romantic." "It was, but she accidentally had too much wine and got drunk." "Oh my God. What happened after that?" "She kept rolling down the hill and jumped into a stream. We danced and fell asleep at home." "Phew, nothing bad happened then." "What do you mean? Is that what Gabby kept mentioning?" "You really are innocent, aren't you Zane?" "What does that mean?" "Yep. You're innocent." "Sarah, what are you talking about?" "You really want to know?" "Yes. I do not like to be kept in the dark about things." I heard her sigh over the phone. "If you really want to know. Gabby kept hinting about you and Mel having sex. That's why Mel kept snapping at her." I blushed, then realized that's why she did before. "Now everything makes sense. But why would Gabby keep talking about that?" "It's usually what married couples do on their honeymoon and when they get a place of their own. And she's weird that way." "That is very odd, indeed." "Yeah, Gabby is kinda-" I heard someone in the background, "Looks like I gotta go. See you later, Zane. Tell Mel we said goodbye when she wakes up." "I will. Have fun Sarah." "Thanks." She hung up, and I placed the phone back on its charger.

I looked at the clock, I still had fifty more minutes before I have to wake my wife up. I decided to walk through the forest to make sure the path was still clear. I packed up a small backpack and went through the back door to the porch. I headed into the forest and was surrounded by the calmness from the trees. I walked to the path and trekked deeper into the trees until I found the lake. It had no shore and looked more like a pond than a lake. I placed my backpack in the grass and walked over to the water and looked in. The water was a crisp blue, like the sky's reflection. I touched the surface, causing ripples to spread across the lake. The water was cool to the touch and relaxing at the same time. I pulled myself away and looked at my watch, twenty-five more minutes. I decided it would be plenty of time to get back home before I would wake her. I grabbed my pack and headed back onto the path. Finally, I made it back to our Victorian home and saw I had five more minutes until I would wake Mel up. I decided to check in on her, so I entered through the back door and headed to our room on the second floor. Mel hadn't moved since I left, but she did look much healthier.

I crossed the room and sat down on the bed, laying next to her. Finally, the alarm on my watch went off and I smiled. I turned it off and removed the cloth from her forehead and kissed her. Her eyes fluttered open as she kissed me back. "You smell like the forest." she mumbled. "How are you feeling?" I asked. "Much better. The spell took all the alcohol out of my system, as well as curing my headache." she replied. "Do you want to get dressed? We'll explore once you're ready. By the way, Sarah and Cole are heading on their world tour soon, and they said goodbye while you were out." "Oh, do you think I could call them? I wish to say goodbye." "I don't see why not. I'll go get your backpack ready." "Thank you." She picked up the phone and started to dial as I left the room. I went to the closet and pulled out another backpack and placed inside some granola bars and a bottle of water. _Since we're heading for a lake, why not_? I thought as I packed our swimsuits into the separate bags. I heard Mel finish up her conversation and hung up the phone, I walked into the bedroom and saw her sitting on our bed.

"How'd it go?" "Pretty well, I barely caught them before they left." "That's good, glad you got to say goodbye before their trip." "Yeah, they sounded pretty excited about it." "Do you want to get dressed? I'll finish getting the backpacks ready." She nodded and kissed me, then got up and walked over to the closet. I went back to the living room and packed a lunch for us both. A few minutes later, Mel walked into the living room all dressed and ready to go. She picked up her pack and we headed onto the path. We walked in a line on the path for about 20 minutes, until we reached the clearing with the lake. Mel gasped in shock, "Zane! You knew about this?" "I've known for quite a while now. When you were asleep, I checked to make sure the path was still clear." I said. She smiled and kissed me. We placed our packs on the ground and walked over to the lake. "It looks so welcoming! I wish I brought my swimsuit..." "Check your bag." She looked at me, then walked over and unzipped it. "Zane! You always know what do to." she said and pulled out her suit. "If you want to change into it, I will look away." "You are sweet, I'll just go and change behind the bushes."

She walked away and I changed quickly. I dove into the water and swam to the bottom and started to meditate like I used to do at my old village. I never heard the splash until I felt arms around me and an underwater kiss. I opened my eyes and saw her holding onto me, hanging onto my arms. Then she swam to the surface to get some air and I followed. I gasped for air and looked for Mel, but couldn't find her. "Mel?" I called. 'She was just here!' Then I felt arms around my chest and turned around quickly. She was treading behind me and smiled. I held her close and she kissed me again. She then broke free and swam to the shallowest part of the lake and waved me over to her. Once I was in front of her, she pulled me close and pushed her fingers through my hair. I held onto her and she pulled me into a kiss as she tried to mess up my hair. But then she pulled away for a second. "What's wrong?" I asked her. "Would you ever want to be a father?" she asked, looking down slightly. I was a little surprised that she brought it up at that moment, but I answered truthfully, "Yes. I would." She looked up at me and smiled bright. "Really?!" I nodded and she kissed me again. I kissed her back and things got heated quickly...


	4. Chapter 4

We headed back home around 4-pm, after spending several hours at the lake. We relaxed in our living room, and I had a thought come to me not long after. "Mel? Which would you rather have, a son or a daughter?" She didn't reply. I looked at her and realized that she had fallen asleep across my lap. I quietly laughed and stroked her hair and continued to read. I kept thinking about the lake and starting a family. _A family? To have my own son or daughter? It would be wonderful to have a child. _My thoughts were interrupted when Mel stirred and rolled over, cuddling even deeper into me._ I wonder what Mel would want? If we had a son, I would name him...Xavier. But if we had a daughter...Rosalina_. I looked down at my sleeping wife and kissed her forehead. She smiled and woke up, "Morning...wait. Why are we in the living room?" "We came back from the lake and you fell asleep on me." "You are comfy.." she said with an innocent smile.

"I never got to ask you since you fell asleep; if we do start a family, would you rather have a daughter or a son?" She thought about it for some time, "I've always wanted a son, but a daughter would be nice too." "What would you name them?" "You're really thinking about this, aren't you. Well, I would name our son after you, but I don't know about our daughter." "Yes actually, I have been thinking of this, and thought of Xavier as our son's name." "Xavier Zane Julien..I love it! What about a daughter?" "I was thinking of Rosalina." "Beautiful, simply beautiful." I smiled at her and hugged her close, then she started to moan.

"Are you alright? What's wrong?" "I'm not..feeling well.." I helped her to the bathroom, and sat her down on the edge of the bathtub. She turned slightly green and lunged for the toilet, I held her hair back as she started to vomit. After several heaves, she looked at me as I tied her hair back, "I have to check something..could you step outside for a bit?" I nodded, kissed her forehead and walked into the living room, closing the door behind me. I waited and paced for several minutes, thinking of her symptoms and what it could be caused by, then I heard her call for me. I rushed over to the door and knocked hurriedly. "Zane! Come in...something's happened." I rushed in and saw her looking at her shaking hands. "How is this possible?" she muttered. "Melissa?" I asked, getting nervous. I was scared, thinking she was injured or in pain. She looked up at me, with tears in her eyes. She whispered, "I'm pregnant.."

I looked at her, completely in shock, "Really?! Are you sure?" Mel looked at me, "I checked my aura, and it was different. I saw two different colored areas and knew right away. I even took a pregnancy test to be sure. We're having twins." "Boy and a girl?" She nodded and smiled, "Boy and a girl. We're going to be parents!" I embraced her and she started crying, I couldn't hold it in either. I cried and laughed as I held her in my arms. I twirled her around in pure joy. "Should we tell the others? Or should we wait for the right moment?" "Let's wait. I can't believe it, we're going to have a family!" I could tell she was still tired and feeling sick as she rested on me, so I picked her up and brought her to our room. I laid her down on our bed and she reached for me. She held onto my hands and I laid down next to her. She cuddled into me and we fell asleep quickly.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up the next morning and saw her laying on my chest. She kept mumbling the same thing, "Xavier...Rosie...Zane...soft.." I laughed and managed to escape her grasp and headed into the kitchen. I started on our breakfast and couldn't stop smiling at the thought of a family. I gathered the plates and headed back to our room. I placed the tray on my nightstand and tried to wake her up. "Mel, sweetie. Time to get up." She turned away and covered her face with her pillow. "Mel...come on. Time to get up." She moaned, but wouldn't wake. 'How can I wake her up?' I walked to her side of the bed and took the pillow away. She groaned again and tried to roll over, but I kissed her before she could hide. "Alright, alright! I'm up..." She slowly sat up and smiled. "Morning, Sleeping Beauty." I said, smiling. "Good morning, Prince Zane." she replied. "I made us breakfast." I said, turning to pick up the tray. "Someday, I will get up before you and make you breakfast!" she vowed.

I laughed and placed the tray on the bed between us. "You are too sweet, Zane! Thank you so much." she said and kissed me. As I sat down, I looked at her and noticed she already had a baby bump forming. "Doesn't it take nine months for children to develop?" Mel looked at her small bump, confused. "Yes, but I guess we're a special case." I placed a hand on her bump and could already feel our two kids. "I wonder when they'll be due, since they're developing quicker than normal." She placed her hand on top of mine and laced our fingers together. "I'll check later, let's have this wonderful breakfast before it gets cold." We started eating when Mel looked at the phone, "When should we tell the others? Since the twins will arrive sooner than what we think." "When Sarah and Cole come back from their tour." She smiled and looked down at our entwined hands. "I can't believe that we're going to be parents." she said. I leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I can't wait either, I know you'll be a great mother." She kissed me back and said, "You'll be an amazing father, Zane." After we finished our breakfast, we decided on a nursery and got it ready. We chose which room fairly quickly, it was the room across from ours, and Mel created two cribs right away. I noticed even the simplest of spells started to drain her. "I think you should stop with the magic for awhile." I said. She started to say something, but I had to interrupt, "Don't say that you're fine. I know you were going to, but I can see it's draining your energy quickly." She sighed, she knew I was right. "Alright. I'll stop with the magic for awhile." I hugged her and started to discuss paint colors.


	6. Chapter 6

Two weeks after the pregnancy started, her bump became much bigger by the day. Mel grew more tired and I grew even more worried. One day the phone rang, I answered and it was Sarah, they had just arrived back from their tour. "How was it, Sarah?" I asked. "It was great, we went to several places in Europe, Asia, South America and Australia." "That's great to hear." I looked over and saw Mel was starting to doze off on the couch. "Tell everyone to meet us here. We have an announcement." "Okay, but is it good or bad?" "Just tell everyone to hurry over." "Okay, see you soon." I hung up the phone and had to wake her up before everyone arrived. I shook her shoulder gently, "Mel, come on. You have to wake up, everyone's coming over." She started to wake slowly, so I kissed her. "I'm up, I'm up. When are they coming?" "As we speak." "Okay, let me just-" she waved her hand and the entire house was cleaned. She paled slightly. "Mel! I asked for no more magic." "I'm sorry, I didn't want the house to look messy." She grabbed a blanket and covered herself up, I saw that she was shaking.

A few moments later, there was a knock on the door. "How polite.." she said quietly. "Try to stay awake." I told her. She nodded and looked over to the door. I opened it and everyone rushed in and the girls hugged me. "Zane! We haven't seen you in such a long time!" Sarah said. "It's been so quiet since you moved out." Gabby said. "Kai and Lloyd blew up the kitchen again!" Izzy said with a smile. "Hey!" Kai exclaimed. "Really?! You had to bring that up?!" Lloyd protested. "Come on in." I said and everyone entered, looking at our home in awe. "How's it going, Zane?" Kai asked. "What have you been up to?" Lloyd asked me. "What's going on?" asked Cole. "We'll explain everything in a second." I told them. We went to the living room and the girls surrounded Mel. "How's it been?" Nya asked her. "Is everything alright? Did something happen?" Sarah questioned. I cleared my throat and sat next to Mel. "We have an announcement to make." I said, holding her hand. Everyone looked at us expectantly. "I'm pregnant." Mel said. The Ninjas' jaws dropped open while the girls cheered. "Oh my God! Why didn't you tell us earlier?!" Sarah exclaimed. "We were waiting for the right moment." "Do you know the gender, or is it too early to tell?" Nya asked. "We're having twins, a boy and a girl." I answered. "Congrats guys!" Jay said, hitting me on the back.

"But that's not the only reason why we called you here." I said, rubbing my shoulder. Everyone looked confused and concerned. "The twins are growing extremely quickly, high above the normal development rate." "What does that mean?" Sarah asked. I helped Mel stand up and everyone gasped as the blanket fell. Even though she was only two weeks pregnant, it would appear that she was already six months along. "Oh my God, how far along are you?!" Gabby asked. "That's the problem, only two weeks." Mel answered tiredly. Everyone stared at us. "We have to get you to a hospital! You could be in danger because of this!" Nya exclaimed. "The children are healthy, they're just growing exceedingly fast. Besides, I don't know how the doctors would react, finding out that I'm part-nindroid and pregnant." she said, placing her other hand on her stomach. "Please, you need to get checked out. Just to make sure everything's alright."

Mel looked up at me, but I didn't know what to do. Suddenly, the girls pulled Mel away from me and surrounded her. "We're taking you to a hospital." they said. "Zane?!" Mel asked, scared. She reached out for me, desperately. Then they held onto her and disappeared. "Melissa! Where did they go?!" I panicked. The other Ninja looked at each other. "Where's the nearest hospital?" Kai asked me. "In New Ninjago City." I realized. I thought of my wife and felt everything around me disappear and be replaced with a new environment. I looked around at the waiting room of a hospital. I saw the other girls waiting, all looking nervously down the hall. "Where's Mel?!" I asked them. "The doctors took her away. Mel collapsed when we arrived and they took her down the hall." Sarah explained. I looked down the corridor. "Which room did they take her to?" I asked. "They won't let you down there." "Any magic that involved her drained her energy. What are they going to do when they find out she's part-nindroid?!" I exclaimed. I couldn't take it, I raced down the hall as the others yelled at me to come back. I looked through each window until I saw her strapped onto a bed with her panel open. I tried to open the door but it was locked. I started to kick it down, but several doctors grabbed me, restraining me from getting to her. "That's my wife in there!" I screamed at them. I fought against them as I was pulled away, screaming for my wife until I felt a sharp prick in my arm. I started to lose all feeling, including my consciousness.


	7. Chapter 7

When I woke up, I was strapped down on a bed. I struggled to slip out of the restraints, I was trying to freeze the leather bonds when a doctor walked in. The ice crystals disappeared as I turned to him. "Sorry for the straps, but we didn't want to take any chances when you woke." the doctor said. "I just wanted to get to my wife, but it was locked.." I growled. "That's your wife? May I ask why she has a metal chest cavity and is six months pregnant?" he asked in disbelief. I didn't say anything. The doctor sighed. "Look, I'm not here to hurt you or your wife, but we need answers." I looked away. "How about this, if you tell me about yourself, then I will tell you about myself. And if you cooperate, I will take you to see her." I finally looked at him. "I swear on my life that I will allow you to see her." I sighed, "My name is Zane Julien, and my wife's name is Mel-Melissa Julien. She was in an accident several years ago and the only way to save her life was to convert her into a partial nin-android. Two weeks ago, she became pregnant with twins but the children have been developing excessively and above the normal rate." "Wait, she's only two weeks in?!" "Yes, our friends got worried and brought her here without me, so I followed and tried to get to her but was knocked out in the process." He briefly nodded, "Thank you, Zane. My name is Vincent Miller, I'm married as well and I have a son who is two years old." "What's his name?" I asked. "Brent. He's adorable."

I looked down at the leather straps. "Dr. Miller, may I see my wife now?" I asked. Thankfully, he nodded and undid the restraints. "May I say that you're an amazing fighter?" "Thank you, I...teach martial arts." He took me down the hall and unlocked her door. I rushed inside and held her hands, "Has anything happened to her, anything been done to her?!" "We tried to examine her chest cavity and did an ultrasound on your kids. They are healthy, and developing normally...just like you said." I touched her cheek and it felt like ice. "Can you take her temperature? She feels cold." Dr. Miller nodded and pulled out a thermometer. "94 degrees. Something has got to be wrong with her." he said in disbelief. Just then, the door burst open and several other doctors rushed in, pointing at Mel and me and muttering to each other. I overheard the words "targets" and "nindroids". "Can I help you?" Dr. Miller asked nervously. One of the doctors looked at him, "This isn't your business. We need those two." Several of the 'doctors' surrounded us, I tried to protect Mel but I was grabbed and started to be dragged away. The other 'doctors' unstrapped Mel and followed the people holding me. I tried fighting but felt another sharp prick in my arm and soon became paralyzed.

"No! Let me go!" I screamed. Dr. Miller came running after us yelling, "Stop! Where are you taking them?!" Several security guards stopped him as we were taken out of the hospital and placed into a large white van. I was cuffed to the side, I looked around and saw the other Ninja and all the girls were there, unconscious. Mel was strapped lying down next to me, the kidnappers closed the door behind her. Kai started to wake when the van started up, "Wha-where am I? Zane, what's going on?!" "We're being kidnapped, Mel's unconscious and I'm paralyzed temporarily." "Do you know who's behind it?" "No, I don't. Can you try to wake the others?" "Yeah, give me a sec." He kicked Jay's shins, and he woke with a start. Kai told him to wake the next person. Eventually everyone but Mel was awake. "What happened to you?" I asked them. "We were waiting for the doctors to come back with a diagnosis when we saw you get knocked out. We started to go to your aid when a group of doctors came out and blocked us. We tried to get past them, but they somehow knew who we were and attacked us. Several of us were knocked out right away until eventually everyone was. Next thing we know is we're stuck here." Cole said. I could feel the paralyzer slowly wearing off, once I could feel my arms I froze my restraints, broke myself and Mel free and held onto her. I closed her panel and felt her temperature, her cheeks were warming up slowly, but her stomach now felt ice cold.

Kai realized that he could use fire and burned through his restraints. He started to free the others, and Sarah was able to shift out of it and get the rest free. They surrounded Mel and me, and all the girls started to apologize, "We're so sorry, if we never took her to the hospital, we wouldn't be in this mess." "Can we teleport out of here?" I asked. Sarah was about to reply when the van screeched to a stop, sending everyone crashing to the front. "Ow!" "Ouch!" "Get your foot out of my face, Kai!" Suddenly, the back doors flew open and several people dressed in black armor came in and grabbed us. I wouldn't let go of Mel as they tried to separate us. "Leave those two. They're our targets." a deep voice said. They dropped Mel and me on the ground but stayed in a circle around us. "What about the other Ninja?" asked one of the kidnappers. "Lock them in their cells." Everyone fought their grasps but were dragged down the hall. I looked at the one who was in charge and growled, "What do you want with us?!" He looked down at me as if I was nothing, "You two are the original nindroids, and the world's first partial-nindroids are going to be born soon. The four of you will lead in the creation of a new army to take over the world!"

I held Mel close and felt her stir and moan. "Any day now, and they will be born. Place them in their cell, separated from the rest." He started to walk away. "Wait, why do you want the others?!" I called. He looked at me over his shoulder, "I had them captured so they can't come to your aid, and maybe to drain them of their elemental powers..." Mel and I were then taken away and placed in a cement cell with only one bed and no windows. I placed Mel on the bed and sat down next to her. She started shaking and moaning. "It's okay, Mel. It's okay." I said quietly. After several minutes, she spoke quietly, "...Z-Zane?..." I held onto her and replied, "Yes, it's me." Her eyes finally opened and she looked around nervously. "Where are we?" "I do not know. We were kidnapped from the hospital and are being held somewhere." "Who did this? Where are the others?" "I don't know who did this, the others are also here but in different cells." "Zane, I'm really scared. Why do they want us?" "They want us and our children. They want us to lead their 'army'." I said as I held her. She sat on my lap and hid in my arms, "I'm really scared about this. What if we don't get out of here before they're born? What if they start to do things to us? What if-" I kissed her before she could ramble on. "We will get out of here. I won't let them hurt you or the twins." I said and held her to my chest. She suddenly yelped and held her stomach in pain. "What's wrong?!" I asked nervously. "They just kicked! They might be born any day now!" she panicked. We looked at her stomach, and I swore it was bigger than it was this morning. I laced my fingers with hers and just held her in my arms, eventually we dozed off.


	8. Chapter 8

Several hours later, we woke to the sound of the cell door opening. A figure dressed in all black entered the cell and looked over at us. "Who are you, and what do you want with us?!" Mel yelled at him. "I believe your nindroid husband has explained part of that question." he said. He walked over to us, and I pulled her away from him. "I want to see how developed the children are." he said. "You will not lay a hand on her!" I yelled at him. Even though his face was hidden in shadows, I could tell he was smiling. "Who are you?!" she shouted again. He looked at her and replied, "You won't know who I am."

He suddenly grabbed my arm and hooked a metal bracelet to my wrist. "Now you better do as I say or your husband gets a 'shocking' surprise.." I pulled my arm back and tried to take it off, but it wouldn't budge. "Don't do that, Zane.." he warned, "Now, I need to see how far along the children are." "Do not touch her!" I growled. He tsked at me, and pulled out a small box with a dial on it. He turned the dial and I felt electricity surge through my system. It lasted for what felt like fifteen seconds, before he finally shut it off. "Stop! You're hurting him!" Mel screamed. He looked at us and said, "I gave you a fair warning. He didn't listen, and he paid the price. Now, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?" "Don't...do it.." I panted. She turned to him, and got up slowly. "If she goes...then I go with her." I said, grabbing onto her hand.

The man looked at me, then reluctantly agreed, "You can come, if you don't try to stop me for any reason or try to escape." I agreed and helped her out of the cell, we followed our captor to another room. He pointed to a metal table and told Mel to lie down on it. I helped her on and she laid down, her bump was much bigger than before. Two other men, also dressed in black, came over with different pieces of machinery. "What is that?" I asked. "Ultrasound." one of them replied. The other suddenly strapped her down on the table as the first pulled up her shirt and placed the gel on her stomach. "Why are you strapping her down?!" I asked nervously. They ignored me and used the ultrasound and got an image of our children. "It appears that they are eight months developed at this point." the first one said. Mel and I looked at each other nervously. "Eight months?" I whispered. She looked as frightened as I felt. "How much longer till her due date?" the man in charge asked. "One day at the least. Two days at the most." the second man replied.

Mel started shaking again, I held onto her hand. The head captor walked over to her and placed his hand on her stomach and smiled, "Yes, any day now. Clean her off and take them back to their cell." "Can we please see our friends first?" Mel asked. He turned and looked at her, and agreed, "Five minutes." The other two wiped off the gel and unstrapped her from the table. "Follow me." the first guard said. I helped her down the corridor and into a large conference room with several chairs and a water jug. I helped her into one of the chairs and got her some water as the others were brought in two-by-two. Everyone came over and hugged us. "Are you alright?" "We heard you yell out!" "How is Mel doing?" I held up my hand and everyone stopped talking. "We only have five minutes. If I disobey our captor, I will get shocked by this bracelet." Jay looked at the bracelet and tried to break it, but got shocked in the process. "I'm fine, but I'm apparently now 'eight months' along. My due date may be within a day." She gasped and held her stomach again, I held her hands as everyone looked at her in confusion. "What's wrong?" Sarah asked. "They've been kicking. This is the second time it's happened, it's so painful." Mel answered. "Are you being treated well?" I asked them. "Yeah, we're fine. He hasn't come near us though." Just then, the door opened and several guards came in. "Time's up." one of them said.

They came for Mel and me first and took us back to our cell. Mel went straight to the bed and curled up on it. One guard brought in a tray of food and gave it to me. "Are the others being fed as well?" I asked. He nodded and left, locking the door behind him. I brought over the tray to our bed, "You need to eat, Mel. I will after you're done." She nodded and started to eat. I finished the dinner and placed the tray by the door. I turned around and saw that Mel was shaking intensely. "Can we have a blanket over here?!" I called out. A guard walked over and saw Mel shivering then left. He came back a few minutes later and handed me a blanket. "Thank you." I said and wrapped her in it. "Th-thanks Z-Zane.." She said through her chattering teeth. I held her on my lap, and not long after she fell asleep. "Oh Mel, I won't let them hurt you." I said before falling asleep as well.


	9. Chapter 9

I woke a few hours later when our cell door opened. Our captor walked in and looked over at us, "Morning, Zane. How did you sleep?" I didn't reply, I just brought her closer to me. "Look, I know how protective you are of her, and I can assure you that we have the best medical supplies in Ninjago." I didn't believe him, I knew if we didn't escape soon, we would never be free. Mel groaned and turned closer to me, holding onto her stomach. "Why do you want us?!" I asked angrily. "Just think about this, Zane. An entire army led by a family of Nindroids! How amazing would that be?! The army would be completely unstoppable! Now I know you won't accept unless desperate measures are taken, and I won't do that until your children are born. But you will remain here until they are born, or you two accept my offer!" "You've gone mad if you believe that you can hold us captive!" His eyes narrowed in anger, "I wish I could believe you, but with her going into labor soon, that might not work out so well in your favor." "I won't let you lay a hand on her or our kids!" He shrugged, "Your friends can't help you and you can't help them, your elemental powers won't work in these cells." I glared at him. "I will return in two hours to examine her." He turned and left the cell, locking the door behind him. I looked away from the door and saw that she was awake and had tears in her eyes. "Zane, I'm terrified." she whispered. I wrapped my arms around her and told her that everything would be alright. "Go back to sleep, you need your strength." I told her. She laced her fingers with mine and fell back asleep.

Two hours later, we woke with a start when the door slammed open. "Oh good, you're awake." he said calmly. 'All thanks to you' I thought angrily. "Now, Melissa, I need you to come with me for your examination." he gestured to the open door. "No! I won't let you touch her!" Electricity surged through me as I screamed in pain. "Stop hurting him!" Mel screamed. He reluctantly shut it off, I held onto her and wouldn't let go. "Zane, don't worry, I'll be fine." I could hear the fear hidden in her voice. "I'm coming..with you.." I gasped. She gave me a thankful look. We helped each other stand up and followed him to a large room filled with medical equipment and supplies. It felt more like a hybrid of a factory and a hospital than a medical examination room. Mel groaned and held her stomach again. "Their time is almost here. Get her on the table." he commanded. She looked at me and nodded, I sighed and helped her onto the table. A female nurse walked over to us and smiled, "Congrats on your children." "Thank you." Mel said, exhausted already.

Then the nurse lowered her voice and whispered, "I'm going to help you two out of here. That man over there has gone insane, and I fear for you and your children. Please trust me, I'm a friend of Dr. Miller. He asked me if you were here, he was worried about you." I nodded and whispered our thanks, "Who is our captor? He won't tell us who he is." "His name is Cryptor, he is the general of this corporation." "Corporation?" Mel asked. "This company has been searching for special individuals with amazing abilities. He found out about you two after the final battle and has been searching for the past several years to bring you here. When he found out about your children, he went ballistic and became obsessed with finding you two, no matter what the cost." "What are you telling them?!" Cryptor asked, frustrated. "I'm just explaining what I'm going to do with the tests." the nurse said calmly. He nodded, and she quickly explained that she was going to check the twins' development and got started. I held onto Mel's hand as she did her tests.

Throughout the exams, she quietly explained her plans to help us escape. "When these tests are over, I will be leading you down to your cell, but keep walking and follow my instructions. Everyone else has been taken out of here before this examination took place." Mel groaned and held her stomach again and I grew even more nervous. "Well, how are the children developing?!" Cryptor asked the nurse angrily. "They are almost here. They will arrive in less than twelve hours." "Excellent. Take them back to their cell, doctor." He turned and left the room as she replied, "Yes, sir." We helped Mel off of the table and out of the room. As we walked towards the cell, Mel asked tiredly, "What's your name?" "Kelly Michaels." She looked over her shoulder and pushed us past the cell. "Trust me." she whispered. We kept walking as Mel kept holding her stomach and groaning. "We're almost there. Just keep walking, honey." Dr. Michaels whispered. Finally, we reached an area that would be used for docking large delivery trucks. I realized that this was where we were brought in from. Dr. Michaels opened the door and helped us out, just as the alarms started blaring.

"Shoot! Hurry, get in! Get in!" We were rushed out and placed inside a white van. "Z-Zaaaane..." Mel moaned. I held onto her as the van sped forward. "Stop! Get those two prisoners back at all costs, I want the nindroids alive!" Cryptor yelled. "Where are the others?" I asked Dr. Michaels. "They're at a safe house with Miller. How's your wife doing?" she called over her shoulder. "She's hurting very badly, how soon will we be there?" "In about an hour-." Suddenly the van lurched to the side, Mel screamed out in pain. "What's happening?!" I called. "We're being rammed! Hold on!" She sped up and turned onto an interstate, we held on as the other vans rammed us a few more times before falling back behind traffic. "Did we lose them?" I called. "I believe so." she answered. We drove in silence for many miles, until Mel fell asleep in my arms. "I never got to thank you for saving us." "I was glad to do it." "How do you know Dr. Miller?" "We worked together in the hospital where you met him. We were offered jobs at the corp and I accepted, Miller refused. We've stayed in touch ever since, in case anything like this ever happened." "Thank you again for helping us." "Of course, but may I ask some questions? I'm very curious about your story." "I don't see why not." "How are you two...what did he call you?" "Nindroids." "Yes, how are you two nindroids and how is she pregnant?" "Well, I'm a complete nindroid. I was built many years ago, but Mel was human. During the final battle, she was critically injured and the only way to save her life was to turn her into a partial-nindroid. Several months ago, we got married and only about two and a half weeks ago, she became pregnant with twins. They've been growing at an amazing rate." "Wow, that is some story. Was it love at first sight or did it develop over time?" "Love at first sight." Mel mumbled, then cuddled closer to me and fell asleep again. "Love at first sight." I said, stroking her hair gently. "How romantic.."

For the rest of the journey, we rode in silence until she pulled onto a long road. Then Mel started moaning and mumbling, "They're coming..Xavier and Rosie..they're coming..." We drove through the forest to a modern house. Dr. Michaels turned off the van and helped us out. We headed into the house and laid her on the couch. All our friends came from their rooms and rushed over to us. "Thank God, you're alright!" "How did you escape?" "Is Mel alright?" They bombarded me with questions, I tried to answer as fast as possible. Then Dr. Miller came from the kitchen and greeted us. "Zane! I'm glad to see you and Melissa are alright." I nodded, then Mel suddenly shot forward and yelled in pain. Dr. Michaels rushed over and checked her. "I think she's going into labor!" she exclaimed. Everyone looked in shock at her, Mel kept screaming in pain. "ZAAAAANE!" she screamed. Dr. Michaels held her by one side and I held the other. "Take her to one of the bedrooms, get towels and hot water ready." "Wait! We can take her to a hospital!" Sarah exclaimed. "How?!" Dr. Miller asked. "Trust us." Kai said.


	10. Chapter 10

Everyone held hands and we were teleported to the hospital. The doctors and I were rushed with Mel to one of the hospital rooms while everyone else stayed in the waiting room. The doctors kept checking on her as they got the room prepared quickly. I helped her onto the bed, then she was hooked up to an IV. "I don't think there's anytime for painkillers." Dr. Miller said. "What should I do?" I asked, extremely nervous for her, her breathing grew quicker. "Do you want to wait outside?" "No, I have to stay with her." As if to prove my point, Mel fumbled to grab onto my hand and wouldn't let go. "Try to keep her calm." Dr. Michaels said. Mel screamed again.

"Alright, honey. You're ready, you need to start pushing." Dr. Michaels coaxed. Mel screamed as she tried to push. "It's alright Mel. I'm right here, you can do this." She pushed again and started to cry as she screamed. "Come on, honey. Few more. Just a few more!" She held onto my hand extremely hard and screamed. "Come on, Mel. You're almost done." Then, a baby's cry was heard. "One more, just one more...and there we go." Dr. Michaels held up our small baby and smiled. "It's a girl." she said. "Rosie, our little Rosie." I smiled. Dr. Miller cleaned her off as Dr. Michaels helped Mel with her final delivery. "Alright honey, few more pushes and then you're done." Mel screamed and pushed a few more times. "Xavier is left, you can do this!" "Almost there, honey. Almost there. Few more pushes." she coaxed. Not long later, another cry was heard. "One more push, honey...there we go." She held up our small son. "It's a boy." Dr. Michaels announced. "Our little Xavier." Mel gasped for air as she laid back down. He was handed over to Dr. Miller and cleaned off, then was passed to me. He was very pale and small, had light blond hair and sky blue eyes. "He's beautiful. What's his name?" he asked. "Xavier Zane Julien." I said proudly. Mel was handed our daughter. She also had very pale skin but was slightly bigger than her brother, nearly platinum hair and striking blue eyes. "She's amazing. What's her name?" Dr. Michaels asked. "Rosalina Elsa Julien." Mel cried happily. She looked at me and smiled tiredly, "We're parents, Zane!" I smiled and laughed happily, "Yes we are."

"Should we bring your friends in?" the doctors asked. "Yes, but please tell them to be quiet." I replied. After the doctors left, I looked at Mel as she checked Rosie's aura. It was a mix of mostly white and a little blue, but there was gray on her arms and chest. "Is that..?" "The metal? Yes. Our children will be medical mysteries, but will grow up loved and nurtured all the same." We switched and she did the same for Xavier. It was the same colors as his sister's with the gray areas in the same spots, and was mostly blue with little white. She gently stroked his light blond hair and smiled, Xavier started chewing on his blue blanket as he looked between us. Rosie yawned and snuggled into my chest within her pink blanket, I gently kissed her forehead. The door quietly opened as our friends walked in. All the girls gasped at the sight of the twins. "They are so adorable!" Sarah said quietly. "What are their names?" Nya asked. "Rosalina Elsa Julien." I said, looking at my daughter. "Xavier Zane Julien." Mel said very tiredly but smiling all the same. I sat down in a chair next to her bed as Rosie slept in my arms. All the girls crowded around her bedside as my brothers gathered around me. "She's beautiful." Kai said. "Congratulations Zane." Cole said with a smile. "We're so happy for you." Jay said. I smiled at them, then after awhile of talking, I looked over at Mel. She was smiling but looked extremely worn down, nearly falling asleep several times.

I slowly stood up and walked over to her side. "I think Mel needs her rest." I said. Everyone nodded at us. "I think we'll head back to the Bounty. Congrats guys." Sarah quietly said. We nodded and they disappeared with a final wave. Our two doctors came back in, and explained that they needed to do the required tests for newborns to ensure that they are healthy. I looked at Mel and she nodded. We handed our children to them, they were placed in a basket and taken by Dr. Miller down the hall. "How are you feeling, Melissa?" Dr. Michaels asked. "Still in lots of pain...very exhausted and physically drained...but very happy." she sighed. "Do you want some painkillers?" she asked but Mel shook her head. "I just...need some rest..." The doctor nodded, "We'll bring your kids back once we're done. It shouldn't be long" She nodded slowly and started to fall asleep. She left us and Mel gently held my hand. I looked down and saw her softly touching the metal bracelet on my wrist. I had forgotten all about it during the chaos.

"What should we...do about this?" she asked quietly. "I don't know. Jay's tried to break it, but it shocked him in response." I held her hands and kissed her softly. "Go ahead and rest. That took a lot of energy from you." She nodded and tried to pull me down onto the bed but she didn't have enough energy. I laid down beside her and she fell asleep playing with my hair. I had started to fall asleep when the doctors rushed in with the twins, a panicked look on their faces. "What's wrong?" I asked. "They're coming. They've tracked us down and are searching for you four." I looked up at Mel, she looked so peaceful. "What can I do?" "We need you to take your family and hide." "Dr. Michaels, what about you? They know you and might hurt you!" "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." "Where should we go?" "Go to your house, the safe house, anywhere but here. Now go!" They gave the twins to me and rushed out the door. Dr. Miller looked in one last time and locked the door behind them. I held our kids in my arms and woke her up. "Mel! I need you to get up now!" She shot awake, frightened, "What's going on?" I handed her our daughter and quickly explained our predicament. She took out the IV from her arm and took our son as well. I had just started on the spell when suddenly I felt electricity go through me.


	11. Chapter 11

"ZANE!" Mel exclaimed. I shook from the electricity and collapsed onto her. Just then there was a hard knocking on the glass window on the door. Mel gasped and I saw Cryptor there, smiling cruelly at us. He shattered the glass and broke down the door. It swung open and he walked in, arms open as if he wanted to embrace us. "There are my two favorite nindroids, and with their new kids! How sweet.." his voice was dripping with venom. I laid across Mel and the twins and tried to protect them. Cryptor snapped his fingers and a huge mass of guards came rushing in. They rushed over to us and pulled me away from them. "DO NOT TOUCH MY FAMILY! NINJAAA GO!" I started spinning, sending the guards flying in different directions. "HEEEELP!" Mel yelled.

I turned and saw guards rushing towards them. She hid the children in her arms as they were surrounded. I used my full potential and froze all of the guards attacking them. I shattered the ice, the unconscious guards collapsed. I stood protectively over my family, feeling this protective anger that I've never known before. I turned to Cryptor, he was resting against the wall with his arms crossed. He looked smug and slowly started clapping, "You have such potential, Zane. You could lead my army with your wife at your side. Look at what you've done just protecting your family!" He gestured around the room, I looked at all of the unconscious guards. "If you join me, your family would be completely safe from all kinds of danger. You wouldn't have to worry about protecting them everyday. Your army could protect your kids and wife." "Don't listen to him, Zane!" Mel pleaded. But I couldn't help to contemplate his offer. To have my family be protected? It's what I've always wanted. "You could even get your friends to join us. They could be part of your army, protecting your family and ruling all of the world!" I felt Mel's hand entwined with mine and it cleared my head. "No, I will never join you!" I shouted at him.

Cryptor snarled at me, "I tried to give you a new life willingly, but you wouldn't listen! You four will lead my army and aid me in taking over Ninjago, whether you want to or not!" He pressed a button and I collapsed on the ground in pain. "Stop hurting him!" Mel screamed. Cryptor glared at her with his red eyes. "You've married a fool!" he snarled at her. As I convulsed, I looked at the bracelet and froze it with what strength I had left. I shattered it on the ground and slowly stood up, guarding my family. Cryptor looked at me in shock and anger, "Why aren't you being electrocuted?!" "You will not threaten my family, my friends or me. I will NEVER join you." He glared at us and snarled, "I wouldn't expect you to. Now, let's change your mind.." He pulled out a syringe full of black and purple liquid, Mel gasped in horror, "I-Is th-that..?" "Dark matter? Yes, I had it saved after the final battle. Waiting for the day for you two to come to me." "You're crazy!" "Everyone has their opinions." He raced towards us and grabbed me by the throat. He lifted me into the air, I tried to kick him but only ended up flailing. "You will lead the army, Zane. Whether you want it or not!" He brought the syringe down barely above my arm, right before he was flung back by a ray of energy. He crashed into the wall and collapsed, I fell onto the ground. I turned and saw Mel panting in shock, her arms stretched out in front of her. The twins were looking at us in her lap. "Mel?" I asked. "I...I did that. I won't let him hurt you anymore. I just couldn't.." Then she passed out cold. Cryptor groaned and slowly got up, glaring daggers at her. "I will get you two and your kids...mark my words.." He then rushed out of the room, leaving us alone.

I turned to our twins, they were looking at me with curiosity in their eyes. "I'm surprised you two never cried." I said, picking them up carefully. Xavier already showed signs of my hair, widow's peak included, but he had her blue eyes. Rosie had Mel's hair, but my eyes. I sat down next to Mel and called everyone, telling them to hurry over. Rosie and Xavier fell asleep in my arms, Rosie snuggled closer to me. Not long after, everyone rushed in and saw the damage to the room and Mel unconscious. "What happened?! Was there a battle?!" Kai asked. "Yes, there was actually. After you left, Cryptor came for us. I had to fight his guards and he tried to convince us to join his army, but we refused. He almost injected me with dark matter, but Mel hit him with energy and eventually passed out from exhaustion. Cryptor vowed to find us again, and escaped." I explained. Everyone stared at me, opened mouthed. "Where are the doctors?" Gabby asked. I felt my heart sink. "I don't know where they went! Could you search for them?!"

The Ninja nodded and ran out the door, the girls crowded around me and started pelting me with questions; "Are you alright?" "How are the twins?" "Is Mel alright?" "How did he have dark matter?" "Are you injured?" "We're all fine. He said that he kept some dark matter from the final battle, waiting for the day to use it on us." "We're just glad you're alright." The girls all hugged me as the guys came back in with the doctors. Both looked slightly beaten and bruised, but other than that alright. "What happened here?!" "Why are you four still here, when we told you to try and escape?!" I explained what happened after they left. "What happened to you two?" "After we locked your door, we tried to stop Cryptor but his army had overpowered us and charged to your room. Several guards tied us up and raced to your room." Dr. Michaels walked over to Mel's side and checked her vitals. My brothers looked at one another. "Can we move them to another room? This is just too...damaged." Cole asked. The two doctors looked at each other, then nodded.

"How can we move her?" I asked. Sarah thought for a second, then looked over and asked Cole, "Could you go find a wheelchair?" He nodded and left the room. He came back after a few minutes and Sarah helped put her into it. Her head slumped forward as we transported her out of the damaged room. We moved down to a larger room where everyone could be without being uncomfortable. I held onto the twins as Nya helped Kai place Mel onto the bed. "I need to hook her back to the IV. She is too weak to be taken anywhere else." I nodded, and Dr. Michaels placed the needle back into her vein. Mel slightly flinched, then softly moaned in pain. Everyone sat down into several chairs around the room and I sat on the side of the bed. Nya walked over and sat next to me, she looked at our kids sleeping in my arms. "May I hold one?" she asked. I nodded and she carefully took Rosie from my arms. She woke and stared at Nya curiously. "She is beautiful. She has your eyes." Nya said quietly. "Thank you." Nya smiled and showed her to the others. "...Zane?..." I heard Mel whisper. Xavier woke to the sound of her voice. With my free hand, I held onto hers. "It's okay. Everyone is here and safe." She rolled her head to the side and softly squeezed my hand. I laid down next to her as Xavier reached for us. "Mel, he wants you to hold him." She woke up and smiled. She took him in her arms and kissed his forehead. "Hi Xavier, you look just like your father." she said quietly, Xavier yawned and snuggled with her. Nya brought Rosalina over and placed her in my arms. Rosie looked at us and she smiled. "She looks like you, Mel." I said quietly. She looked at her and kissed me. "We have such beautiful children.." she said quietly, then she laid her head on top of mine and dozed off.


	12. Chapter 12

During the night, the Ninja and their spouses were asleep in the chairs in the room. Our doctors had brought in make-shift cribs for Rosie and Xavier earlier as well as their birth certificates, both children were sleeping soundly. I woke when I heard Mel moaning and crying. She kept repeating my name as she cried. "Zane! Zane, no! Don't! Run, Zane!" she kept saying. I was worried and I tried to wake her, but it only made it worse. "No, Zane! No, don't do it! Please!" she started yelling. "Wake up! Melissa, you need to wake up!" I cried out. I held her to my chest and stroked her. Finally, she woke with a start. She threw her arms around my neck and started to bawl. "I had a horrible nightmare! We were captured and you were being taken away! I couldn't stop them! You were strapped down onto a metal table and then you were injected with dark matter, then they went for our children next! I was powerless to do anything and...and-" she broke down crying. I held her on my lap and rubbed her back as she cried. "It was just a dream. Everything's alright, I'm right here and so are the children." She couldn't stop crying, she hugged me hard and wouldn't let go. I lifted her chin up and kissed her, she collapsed back onto my chest and kept holding me. "It's alright, try to rest. I will be right here." She looked up one last time and said, "Please, don't let go." I nodded and she closed her eyes. After several minutes, her breathing returned to normal and she sighed. I rested my head on hers and fell asleep soon after.

In the morning, I woke and saw Mel was still holding onto me. I looked up at the clock, it was 9am. I gently woke her up, she yawned, looked up and kissed me. "Good morning." I said quietly. "Morning." she replied. "I need to check on the twins." She nodded and unhooked her arms from me, I got up and walked over to their cribs. Both were still sleeping soundly. "Can I hold one?" Mel asked. I picked up Rosie and brought her over to Mel. I went back and held Xavier as I sat next to them. Rosie cooed and held onto Mel's fingers, she laughed softly as she played with her. Xavier woke up and looked at his sister curiously. "That's your sister, Xavier." I said. He smiled and turned to look at Mel, reaching for her. "That's your mom." He looked at me and smiled. "I'm your dad." I said, feeling amazing pride. Rosie giggled as Mel tickled her, Xavier looked back at them. We laid there for some time until we heard a knock at the door.

Dr. Michaels poked her head into the room, "Hi guys. How's it going?" Mel smiled and said, "Very well. How are you doing, Zane?" I said, "I'm well." She walked in with a tray of food, both for us and two bottles for the twins. "How are the twins doing?" Both turned to her. "Oh, wow. They're ahead of their ages already." She placed the tray on the stand next to the bed, "May I see one of them?" She picked up Rosie and gasped, "How is this possible? Rosalina would already appear to be several weeks old, within a day!" I looked at Xavier and realized what she was talking about was true. Xavier did look older, I smiled as he played with my fingers. She placed Rosie back into Mel's arms and picked up Xavier. "These children are amazing. Nine months of development within three weeks." As Xavier was placed back into my arms, Dr. Miller walked in. "How's everybody doing?" he asked cheerfully. Dr. Michaels walked over and pulled him aside. She whispered something to him and he looked shocked. He walked over and looked at our kids, and looked even more amazed and speechless. "These children are so special. Developing so quickly, and...just wow."

Mel smiled and rested on my shoulder. "We'll leave you four alone. When the rest wake, tell them to head to the cafeteria for some breakfast." We nodded as the doctors left and played with the twins for awhile, then switched later. Rosie tried walking on the bed and was actually able to take a few steps. We fed them as they grew tired, eventually Rosie fell asleep in my arms and Xavier in Mel's. I got up quietly and placed her in her crib, then placed her brother in his right after her. I brought the cribs slightly closer to the bed and sat back down. After half an hour, my brothers and sisters-in-law woke up and checked on us. "Dr. Michaels said that you can head to the cafeteria for breakfast." Mel told them. They nodded and gave us a hug, then headed down to eat. We ate from the tray Dr. Michaels brought in, then waited for the others to come back. Then Mel said something that made my stomach turn, "Did that taste weird to you?" I nodded, then yawned. "It just tasted...really...odd..." she started to nod off, and I felt drowsy as well. Then it hit me, "Melissa! We've been drugged!" I reached for the twins, but I could barely move. "Zane...what's...happening..?" She collapsed on the bedside. I pulled the cribs over to the bed as I started to lose consciousness. I fell backwards onto her as the door opened. The last thing I saw was a figure, all in black, laughing at us. Then everything went dark.


	13. Chapter 13

I woke up on an angled metal table in a darkened room. I looked around and saw Mel on another table next to me, but she was strapped down onto it. I tried to move but I realized that I had been strapped down on my arms, legs and waist as well. I started to panic. _Where are the children?!_ I thought. I tried to freeze the bonds, but I couldn't reach my potential or use my element. Then I heard Mel groan, "Wha-Zane? Where are we?!" She saw that she was strapped down and started to panic. "It's just like my dream! Zane, it's exactly like my dream!" she screamed hysterically. "You need to calm down. Just calm down, Mel!" I pleaded. Then a deep laughter echoed through the room, "Yes, Melissa. Calm down. You and your family will be under my control in a matter of minutes."

Both of us froze in fear. "No..." she whispered. Suddenly a bright spotlight shown down on us, revealing Cryptor holding Xavier and Rosalina. "LET THEM GO!" Mel screamed and tried to break out of her bonds. He placed the twins in a crib, then strolled up to us. "I told you I would get you and your family, Zane. I said I would use drastic means to get you here, and I'm a man of my word." he said smugly, "Now, who should we start with first? The original nindroid, or his meddlesome wife? Let's start with...the wife. Just to get her out of the way." "NO!" I screamed. She started thrashing around, trying to escape. Cryptor looked down at her and smiled, my heart froze in fear. He pulled out the black syringe and held it above her arm, she was visibly shaking. "Don't worry, my dear, this will hurt a lot." he said.

She looked at me with such fear in her eyes that I felt tears escape without knowing. "I love you" she mouthed at me. Then Cryptor injected the dark matter into her arm, she screamed in pain as tears rolled down her cheeks. I watched in complete horror as her skin turned to a deep gray, her blond hair turned black, and her blue eyes changed into a deep purple. Her screams changed and morphed into rough growling. "Excellent. She's...perfect!" "No, Melissa!" She turned and glared at me, even started to snarl at me. Cryptor turned to look at me and smiled horribly. I felt sick to my stomach. He placed the empty syringe on a table between us, then pulled out one more. Completely full, the dark matter glowed a soft purple within its glass tube. He placed the needle just barely above my vein and said, "You see Zane? It didn't have to come to this, if you had just accepted my offer at the start. If you never escaped, if you never fought me, she would still be normal. But now, look at her. You've been in her place during the final battle, and now she has embraced my vision of leading the nindroid army and conquering all of Ninjago!" I looked over at her and saw that she had started to break free from her bonds and was snarling at me. But she started to twitch and spark. "I knew you would eventually lead, General Zane.." I closed my eyes, waiting for the burning pain that I've felt before, that would mean my transformation to evil..


	14. Chapter 14

..but it never came. I heard Cryptor shout in shock and pain, then a loud bang followed after. I opened my eyes and saw Dark Mel standing in his place, out of breath and her hands were glowing with dark purple flames. I stared at her, not registering what was happening. She turned to me and for a brief second, her eyes flickered blue, then returned back to the dark purple. "...w-won't let h-him hurt y-you..." She sparked and twitched slightly, then turned back to fight Cryptor. He got up and started yelling at her, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO WORK FOR ME, NOT ATTACK ME, YOU IDIOT!" She growled and twitched again, "YOU WILL N-NOT HURT M-MY F-FAMILY! N-NOT MY HUSBAND O-OR MY C-CHILDREN!" I stared at her, my wife was fighting the darkness and winning. Cryptor called for guards, many came rushing out from the shadows and charged at her. She twitched and sparked, looked at me, then cut my restraints right in half. "G-get the k-kids. G-get out o-of here." she said. I picked up the twins then jumped back as a guard flew past us. I barely saw him but I noticed he was partially on fire. I turned around and saw she was surrounded but was fighting like never before. "G-GO!" she yelled. "I will be back." I whispered, then we disappeared.

We appeared at our home in the nursery. I placed the twins in their cribs and rushed to our home phone and called the first person that came to mind. I paced as the phone rang..."Hello?" "Kai! Where are you?!" "Uh..at the hospital. Wait, where are you?" "At my house, Mel is fighting Cryptor at the moment at the facility we were taken to. She made us leave, I need your help. Tell the girls to come over and watch over the twins." "Alright." "Get the other Ninja and meet me at the facility." "Okay." I continued to pace the floor until the girls arrived, I quickly explained what they needed to do, then left.

At the facility, the five of us appeared in the midst of a large battle. Mel was in the center of a large mass of guards and soldiers charging at her. "What should we do?" Lloyd asked. "Keep to the shadows, attack everyone on the outside." Cole said, he knew to stay out of the light and Cryptor's sight. "I will try to help her. If you get caught, get out of here at that moment. He wants all of us in his army." "Good luck, Zane." Kai said. I nodded and spun a path straight through the attacking soldiers and made it to the center next to Mel. "W-what are y-you doing here?!" she asked as she hit another. "I vowed never to leave you, and I will keep that promise!" As we fought, I kept seeing out of the corner of my eyes different colors of Spinjitzu tornadoes flash by. We fought possibly hundreds of guards as they charged from the shadows. Mel and I stood back to back, protecting each other as we fought. After the battle, all six of us stood victorious over the soldiers and guards. We looked around, but no one could spot Cryptor anywhere. "Where is he?" Jay asked. "I d-don't know!" Mel stuttered nervously. I turned to her, "How did you beat the control? How are you Dark but fighting for us?" "I'm s-still fighting it. Th-that's why I'm twitching and s-stuttering. I fear for h-how long I can f-fight it through." I looked into her deep purple eyes, and could see traces of her original blue irises. "Do not worry, we will find a way to save you."

"I don't think so, Zane." Cryptor's voice echoed everywhere, but the source couldn't be found. "Where is he?!" Jay asked again nervously. "We don't know." Kai replied. "Look behind you." Cryptor growled. Everyone turned and pulled out their weapons, but no one was there. "Z-Zane?" Mel asked. Just then, I felt someone grab me and pull me back into the shadows. I yelled out before my captor covered my mouth. "ZANE?!" Mel shouted. "If you make any sudden movements, you'll be injected with Dark Matter." Cryptor hissed into my ear. Lloyd summoned a ball of light, illuminating the whole room, including Cryptor and me. "ZANE! L-LET HIM GO!" she screamed, then charged at us. Cryptor, in one swift motion, pulled out a gun and shot her in her chest. "No!" I screamed. Everyone raced toward her. I saw that it was a taser, not a pistol, when she fell on the ground and screamed as her back arched in pain, then passed out.

"Anyone else makes any sudden movements, and he gets injected!" I could feel the needle just above my neck, my brothers slowly stood up in a circle around my unconscious wife. "Where are the kids?!" Cryptor hissed. No one said a word. He pulled me to his face and roared, "WHERE ARE THEY?!" I felt such anger and hatred within me that I've never felt before. Instead of ice, I felt like fire. I spat in his face and snarled, "I'll never tell!" Cryptor yelled angrily then backhanded me. My brothers shouted in anger, I felt my cheek sting from where he hit me. He threw me against the nearest wall, then turned to the others. "Where are they?!" he screamed at them. Again, no one said a word; Kai growled and his hands started to glow faintly, Jay and Lloyd looked completely stunned, and Cole looked angrily at Cryptor.

I still felt dizzy from hitting the wall, but I realized his fatal mistake. Using my element, I froze Cryptor's legs when he was distracted, he yelled out in shock and looked down. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" he screamed at me. When he turned to face me, I called to the others to use their elements on him. Cole hit him with an earthquake, Jay electrocuted him with lightning, Kai burned him and Lloyd shot him with his golden energy. Finally Cryptor collapsed to the ground. Kai and Cole rushed over and helped me up. "Are you alright?" Cole asked. I nodded shakily and was helped over to the others. I knelt down and felt her pulse, it was strong. I thought of how we were 'cured' of the dark matter during the final battle, but was interrupted when Kai spoke up. "We should take her to your home." he said. "What should we do with him?" Jay asked, looking over at Cryptor. "I'm calling the police, I'll be right back." Cole walked off, trying to find our location to tell the police. I picked Mel up and laid her down on the table gently. Cole came back a few minutes later, and hung up his cell phone. "The police are on their way. Let's head back home." I nodded and picked her up bridal style, and then we left.


	15. Chapter 15

After we appeared in the living room, I headed to our bedroom and laid her on our bed. I closed the door behind me before I went across the hallway into the nursery, I saw Nya was playing with Rosie and Sarah was in the rocking chair, holding Xavier. Nya looked up and smiled when she saw me. "Are you okay?" she asked. "I guess, I just had to see how they're doing. Where's Gabby and Izzy?" "They went grocery shopping about fifteen minutes ago. Where are the others?" "The living room, I believe." I walked over and she handed me Rosie. My little girl giggled and reached for me, I held her and smiled.

"D-daddy?" Rosie asked quietly. I looked at her, surprised, "Yes Rosie?" She smiled and held onto my neck. "You are like your mom." I said with a laugh. I heard four pairs of footsteps outside the room before someone spoke up. "Zane?" We turned and saw Cole had spoken. "Yes?" "We may have found a way to save Mel." Jay said quietly. I looked at them as Rosie spoke up, "Daddy, what's wrong with mommy?" Everyone turned and looked at her. "Wasn't she born just yesterday?" Kai asked. I nodded and looked at her. "Mommy isn't feeling well right now. We needed to find a way to make her feel better." I turned to Sarah, "Has Xavier spoken yet? Or is it just Rosie?" Sarah shook her head, "Just Rosalina. Xavier has been asleep for awhile now." I stood up and started to head to the door when Rosie held onto my hand. "I don't think you'd want to see this, Rosie." I told her. She shook her head and grabbed onto my leg. "I think she will be alright." Kai said.

I picked her up and we walked into the hallway. "What's the cure?" I asked. "Me," Lloyd said "my golden energy could turn her back to normal." "Can I see mommy?" Rosie asked. Kai, Jay, Cole and Lloyd all looked at me. "I guess, but you will need to be quiet since mommy's sleeping." She nodded and held onto my neck as we entered the bedroom. Mel was still on the bed, black hair and all. Lloyd walked over to her side, then looked up at us. "I'm going to try to use my potential to remove the...sickness from her." Lloyd explained. I nodded and Rosie watched curiously. Lloyd held onto her hands and started to glow gold, he held on until she glowed like him. Rosie gasped in awe at the sight, Mel's black hair started to turn back to its original blond color. Her skin went from the deep gray back to its pale tone. Once she looked normal, Lloyd let go of her hands and dropped from exhaustion. Kai and Jay rushed over and helped him to his feet. "The room downstairs is a guest room, he can rest there until he feels better." I told them. They nodded and helped him to the guest room, Rosie and I sat on the bed next to Mel.

Rosalina crawled up to Mel's side and laid down by her, I noticed that Rosie already looked like a young toddler. After awhile, she finally stirred and opened her eyes, revealing blue irises. She looked at us and smiled wearily. "Zane! Rosie, you look older than I remember." I laughed and hugged her as did Rosie. "Mommy, you're okay!" Mel looked at her, surprised. "Y-you just said your first words!" Rosie smiled, "I was playing with daddy and Aunt Nya while you were sleeping!" Mel turned and looked at me, "She is growing amazingly fast." She picked up Rosie and held her in her lap. "Look what I can do!" she said excitedly. She held out her hands and it started to snow in our bedroom. Cole, Mel and I all stared at the snow and Rosie in awe. "Looks like she's got your element, Zane." Cole said. "How did you do that, Rosie?" Mel asked. She shrugged shyly, "I don't know. I just feel this inside and wanted to let it go. Is it bad?" Rosie asked. Mel shook her head and smiled, "No sweetie, it's not bad. It's a wonderful gift, daddy and I can do it too." Rosie sat on her lap as Mel held out her hand, a large snowflake formed on her palm and she handed it to her.

Rosie laughed and held the flake as her miniature snowfall disappeared. I sat down next to them and created a small whirlwind of snow around our bed, before it turned into a light snowfall. She laughed again and tried to catch the falling snowflakes as they landed in her hair. Sarah came in with Xavier a few minutes later. "Wow, what happened here?" she asked. "Rosalina can control snow." Mel explained. "We were showing her that we can control it as well." I said. Sarah walked over and handed me our son. "I was going to help unpack the groceries. I thought he should be with his family when he wakes." she said, then walked out the door with Cole behind her. He stirred in my arms and woke up from the snowfall. "Morning Xavier." I said. He smiled then tried to say, "m-morn-ning.." I smiled and held him in my lap. Rosie looked at her brother and said excitedly, "I can control snow!" He looked at the snow and tried to catch the flakes. "We are just so lucky, Zane." Mel said with a contented sigh. Xavier tried to speak again, "Mommy? Daddy? W-what's snow?" She held out her hands and a small pile of snow formed on her palms. She poured it into his small hands and said, "This is snow, Xavier." He touched it and it turned to ice. "Mommy? Is this snow?" "That's ice, Xavier. Looks like our children have our elements, Zane." I nodded and held him in my lap.

Rosie crawled off of Mel's lap and onto the floor. "Can I show Aunt Nya what I can do?" she asked excitedly. We smiled and nodded, Mel got up and Rosie held onto her hand as they walked into the hall. Xavier and I followed behind, he was getting used to talking, "Who's Aunt Nya?" "My sister." I said as we walked into the living room. Everyone, including Lloyd, was there and saw us walking in covered in snow. "Aunt Nya! Aunt Nya! Look what I can do!" Rosie bounced up and down, then spread out her arms and summoned a snowfall. Everyone watched in awe as the snowflakes gathered in their hair. "That's great, Rosie!" Nya said as Rosalina climbed onto her lap. I sat down in the couch between Nya and Mel, and I introduced Xavier to his aunts and uncles. "That's your Uncle Kai, Jay, Cole and Lloyd. There's your Aunt Gabby, Nya, Sarah and Izzy." Each one smiled and waved as they were introduced. He was a little shy, but smiled at his family. Rosie kept saying "hi!" to everyone excitedly, Mel laughed. "What can Xavier do?" Lloyd asked. She placed snow in his palm and Xavier froze it. "Right now he can freeze snow and turn it to ice, but his power will develop over time. Just like Rosie's will." I explained. We talked for a few hours until the twins fell asleep in my and Nya's arms. "Rosie really likes you, Nya." Mel said as she picked her up. Nya smiled and Mel carried Rosie to the nursery. I followed and saw she had turned the cribs into toddler beds. She laid her down and tucked her in, I did the same for Xavier.

Once we were in the hall, Mel turned to me with a nervous look. "Zane, I'm worried about them. Just how fast they are developing, yesterday they were born. Now they're talking and walking and using their elements!" I held her to my chest and she sighed. "Don't worry, no matter what we will love them with all our hearts." She smiled and sighed again. "You always know how to calm me down." she said. I smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Come, we should check in with the others." She nodded and we walked back into the living room. "How old do you think they are?" Kai asked us. "At least almost a year old physically, but even older mentally. How it is possible, we don't know." They looked at us nervously, "Do you think they will be okay when they're older?" "We hope so." Silence followed, until Nya spoke up, "How will you help them develop their powers?" "When they get older, we'll show them how to control it. They can summon it, they just need to control it." Just then, Rosalina started to cry and call out for us. "Mommy! Daddy!"

Mel raced to their room and I followed after her. We rushed in and Rosie ran towards us and held onto Mel's legs, crying. "Rosie, what's wrong?" I asked her. "I had a scary dream!" she cried. Mel picked her up and hugged her. "It's alright, Rosie. It's alright." We sat down on her bed and held her in our arms. "What happened in the dream?" she asked. Rosie looked up and tried to explain, "I kept hearing y-you two yelling at someone and he kept yelling at you!" We exchanged nervous glances. "You were fighting people, and mommy was holding onto us and..and..." "It's okay Rosie. Everything's fine." I hushed. Mel suddenly had an idea, "Excuse me. I will be right back." She rushed out of the room leaving us confused. "Daddy, w-where's mommy going?" "I don't know, Rosie." A few minutes later, she came back in holding two stuffed animals, a small golden dog with a pink bow on one of its ears and a white bear wearing a dress, and an old, faded pink blanket. "These were mine when I was little, they helped whenever I was scared. This is Rosebud," she gave her the small dog, "this is Chloe," Rosie was handed the bear, "and this was my baby blanket." She wrapped her in the blanket and Rosie smiled and snuggled deeper into it. "Thank you, mommy." Rosie said.

Mel sat down next to her and she hugged her. We had tucked her back into bed when Rosie asked us a question, "Could you tell me a story?" Mel and I looked at each other. "What kind of story?" I asked. "Tell me about your wedding." After a few seconds, Mel said, "I guess I'll start. On the day before the wedding, your aunts and I had to spend the night apart from our husbands and boyfriends, so we decided to have a movie night in my room. But halfway through the movie, the power was shut off and we were stuck in the dark." "Why did the power go off?" "Your Uncle Cole wanted to play a joke on us and had Jay turn it off temporarily. So your aunts and I decided to explore why it was off, and I was the first one in the hallway so I was the first 'victim' of their joke." "Daddy, were you a part of it?" "Yes, I was. I didn't want to be, but Kai, Jay and Cole pushed me into it." "What happened next?" "I walked into the hall and I felt someone grab me, I was pushed into one of the rooms and was completely freaked out. There was one other person in the room, and I couldn't tell who it was." "Who was it?" "It was daddy. Even though we weren't supposed to be together until the wedding, we spent the night together once he revealed it was him." "What about the others?" "Each of your uncles took each aunt and separated them. All of your aunts got mad at your uncles but they were apologized to later." "Why weren't you two supposed to be together?" "It's tradition for the husband and wife to spend the night apart before they're married." "Why?" "It's supposed to be they spend the night apart, then they'll be together forever." "That sounds sweet. What about the wedding?" "A few hours before the wedding, I had the biggest panic attack of my life." "Why?" "Well, I feared that I wasn't the best person for daddy. I feared for the unknown." I leaned over and kissed her. "Now I see that I overreacted severely. Your aunts tried to calm me down with little effect. After Aunt Sarah helped me into my dress, the wedding started. As I walked down the aisle, I saw daddy standing there and I knew that I was in love." "That is so sweet." "It was. The vows were so romantic." "What were your vows?" "I vowed to show Zane how much I loved him. I vowed to love him forever, and to protect him with my life." "What about you, daddy?" "I vowed to protect her, to love her everyday, to never leave her and to follow her. That she was my other half, and the love of my life." "Try to get some rest. We'll see you in the morning."

We kissed her then closed the door behind us. "I didn't know that you panicked before our wedding." I said. She nodded, "Like I said, I feared that I wouldn't be the best for you, or that there would be someone better." "There is no one else for me, I chose you and no one else could be better." She kissed me, and we walked back into the living room where everyone was waiting. "Is everything alright?" Sarah asked. "Rosie had a nightmare about yesterday." Mel said. "Wait, she remembers yesterday? What does she remember?" "She knows of the fight between me and Cryptor in the hospital. She remembers the argument between us." "Really?!" We nodded. "Wow, she is going to be like you, Zane. I can tell already." Kai said. "We should be heading back, have a goodnight guys." Nya said, giving us a hug. Everyone said their goodbyes and gave us hugs then teleported home. "We should head to bed. Come." I said and we held hands as we walked to our bedroom. Mel peeked into the twins' room and smiled. "Are they asleep?" I asked. She nodded then pulled me into our room. "It was so sweet that she wanted to know about our wedding." I said. "It was, and she was cuddling with Chloe when I peeked in, she looked so happy." "What about Xavier?" "He was sleeping soundly. We should get him a stuffed animal soon." Mel said. I smiled and crawled into bed. I saw her look at me when I had taken off my shirt. "What?" I asked. "Nothing.." she said with a smile. She crawled up beside me and cuddled into me. "You are so soft!" she said. I wrapped my arm around her and we had started to fall asleep when the door opened. I could see it was Xavier. "Is something wrong, Xavier?" I asked. Mel woke up and noticed, "Xavier, sweetie? Are you alright?" He walked into the room and stood by the bedside. "Xavier?" He crawled up and laid down between us. "Alright, I guess he's more of the silent kind." Mel said. I looked at him, "Is everything alright? Did you have a bad dream?" He nodded. "Aww...it's alright sweetie." she said. He cuddled with Mel and I held onto them. "Wanna tell us what it was about?" He shook his head. "It's alright, try to get some sleep. We'll be right here." He nodded and fell asleep. Mel looked at me and we kissed. "Goodnight, Zane." she said. "Goodnight." I said and we fell asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

The next morning, I woke and saw Mel and Xavier cuddled together. He looked more like me everyday, but luckily he looked about the same age as yesterday. I got up and checked in on Rosalina, she was getting up and saw me in the doorway. "Morning, daddy!" Rosie said. Her hair was messy, like her mom's was every morning. "Morning, sweetie. Do you want to help me make breakfast?" She nodded and climbed out of bed and held my hand. "Where's mommy and Xavier?" she asked. "They're still sleeping. He had a bad dream too." We headed into the kitchen to get the ingredients for pancakes. I started to mix it when the flour tipped over and covered her in it. "Oh no!" But she started laughing. "Daddy! What am I covered in?" 'She has her mother's laugh!' "Flour, sweetie. We should get you cleaned up." She shook her head and laughed, "No, no." I shrugged and finished up the batter and started to cook it. "What are we doing today, daddy?" she asked. I thought about it for a few minutes, "Do you want to learn how to control your powers?" She nodded, sending flour everywhere.

After the pancakes were done, Rosie took them to our bedroom and I followed behind her. Mel was just waking up when Rosie climbed onto the bed. "Hi mommy! Me and daddy made pancakes!" Mel smiled, then noticed all the flour. She looked at me and asked, "Were your brothers here recently?" I smiled at the memory; my brothers wanted to surprise their girlfriends by cooking for them while they went dress shopping for Sarah's wedding. Something went horribly wrong and all five of us and the kitchen ended up being covered in flour. I still do not know what went wrong. "No, the flour spilled on her while we were cooking." She smiled and patted my side of the bed, so I went over and sat next to them. "Daddy's going to teach me to use my powers today!" "That sounds like fun!" Xavier started to wake as we were eating. "Morning, Xavier." Mel said, ruffling his hair. He smiled then looked at the pancakes. Mel helped feed him, but Rosie was learning at an amazing rate. She was eating by herself already. "Rosie, do you mind if Xavier learns to control his powers with you?" She shook her head and smiled, "I don't mind."

After we were done, I led the kids outside while Mel washed the dishes and the kitchen. Rosie was very excited and Xavier was still shy. I knelt down in front of them. "Alright, Rosie, let's start with you. How did you summon the snow yesterday?" "I just felt it right here!" She pointed to my chest. I nodded. "Can you do it again?" I asked. She nodded and held out her hands, then it started to snow. "Can you channel it? Try to concentrate it to this area right here." She nodded and closed her eyes. The light snowfall went from all over to a small circle around us. "Very good, Rosie! Can you focus the snow into your hands?" She looked confused. "Can you put the snow from here" I pointed to her chest "to here?" I held her hands. "I'll try." "That's all I want you to do, is to try." She closed her eyes and the snowfall disappeared. Then it came from her hands at a high velocity. I jumped back to avoid the snow blast. Just then, I heard Mel laughing from the porch. "Very good, Rosie! You're getting much better at controlling the snow! Glad you still have fast reflexes, Zane!" she called. I smiled and Rosie called off the snow blast.

Mel walked over to us and helped me off of the ground. "Ready, Xavier?" she asked. He slowly nodded. "Alright honey. Close your eyes, and point to where you feel the ice inside you." He nodded and closed his eyes and pointed at her chest. "Okay, can you bring that to your hands? Can you move it from here" she pointed to his chest "to here?" and then pointed to his palms. He nodded and closed his eyes. His hands turned light blue, she placed a leaf on his palm and it froze instantaneously. He opened his eyes and stared in shock at the leaf. "Wow.." he whispered. "Nice job, Xavier! Last thing we will try is to bring the ice to the surface. You feel it inside you, try to focus it to the outside of your hands." He nodded and closed his eyes again. A few seconds later, his hands were enveloped in ice. He opened his eyes and smiled at his progress. "Daddy, look what I did!" he quietly said. I smiled, "Very good, Xavier!" "Alright, now relax and let the ice settle back into you." she said, he nodded and the ice disappeared.

"Mommy? Daddy?" Rosie asked. We turned to her, "Yes, Rosie?" "Do we have grandparents?" Mel looked startled for a second, "Yes, you do actually. Isn't Dr. Julien still living in the Birchwood Forest?" I nodded. "Can we visit them?" Rosie asked. "Someday." Mel promised, "Let's head inside for some lunch." Rosie raced Xavier inside as I pulled Mel aside. "Is something wrong? Where are your parents?" I asked her. She sighed, "Do you remember what I told you, how I came here?" I nodded; she said that she came to Ninjago many years ago through a portal. She never had mentioned where she was from or her family now that I thought of it. "Well, one day I was at home when the portal appeared in my living room. I didn't have time to say goodbye to my parents before I left, and I wanted to get away. So I went through and began my journey to meet you and the others, but my parents never knew what happened to me. They probably believe that I was either kidnapped or ran away many years ago." "Why didn't you call them?" "I never had time, between training and all the armies we've fought and starting a family, I was too busy. And I didn't know if I could contact people in another world.." "How about this, when the kids are asleep, we'll give them a call?" She looked very nervous, but eventually agreed. The back door slid open and Rosie called out, "Are you coming in?" We smiled and headed inside. "What do you want to make for lunch?" I asked her. "How about...grilled cheese?" "What's that?" "Don't worry about it. It will be done in about ten minutes." she said as she walked into the kitchen. I helped Xavier and Rosie to their chairs as she cooked. "When will we visit grandpa?" Rosie asked. "Soon, Rosie." She nodded, then Mel came out with several plates.


	17. Chapter 17

"Alright. Time for bed, everyone!" Mel said, looking at the clock. Rosie groaned as Xavier jumped into my arms. "Come on, Rosie. I'll tell you a story before bed." Mel said. Rosie became excited and rushed to their room with us following behind. Rosie climbed into her bed and waiting for me to tuck Xavier in. Mel sat down and started to tell them of one of our adventures with the other Ninja. "There we were, surrounded by different types of snakes on one side, and a deadly bog on the other, when out of nowhere, a rope dropped from the sky! We swung back onto land as a giant mechanical samurai suit appeared from nowhere! Uncle Kai was a bit ditzy at the time and mistook it as 'Santa'. The samurai drove off the snakes, saving us from certain doom. Daddy tried to thank the mysterious Samurai, but we were knocked out so we wouldn't know the samurai's identity." "Who's the samurai?" "Your Aunt Nya! None of us guessed, but after she revealed herself as the samurai, she saved us on several occasions." "That sounds fun.." Rosie yawned. "Try to go to sleep now. Tomorrow, I'll tell the story of uncle Lloyd's pranks on us, turning daddy's suit pink!" Rosie giggled and fell asleep. I looked at her brother, he was already asleep. Mel and I headed into the living room and sat on the couch, Mel looked nervous. "I can't believe I'm going to talk with my parents, after all these years!" I held her hands, "I will be right here, okay?" She nodded and picked up the phone, she put it on speaker as it rang...

"Hello? Who is this?" A female voice asked. "Mom? It's me, Melissa." Silence. "Melissa? Oh my gosh, is it really you?! Where are you? Are you okay? Where did you go?"

"Mom, breathe. I'm fine...actually, I'm doing great."

"Where are you?"

"Um..I'm in another country."

" WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY?!"

"Mom, calm down. Remember that show I really liked?"

"Yes. What does that have to do with anything?!"

"Well, I'm living there."

"Wait...you're in Ninjago?! How on earth did you go to Ninjago?!"

"This will sound crazy, but a portal appeared while everyone was gone."

"I can't believe this! Are you alright, are you coming home?"

She looked at me, nervously. "Just say we're visiting soon." I said quietly. "Uh, well. We can visit, but I can't stay there."

"Who's 'we'?!"

"Uh..."

"Melissa, who is 'we'?!"

"My family..."

"Your family?! You have a family in Ninjago?!"

"Yes, I married-"

"YOU GOT MARRIED?!"

"Yes! I got married to the love of my life."

"And who's that?!"

"Remember the white ninja?"

Mel's mom gasped, "Him?!"

"Yes, mom. He is the sweetest, most caring person in both our worlds. And we have-"

"YOU HAD A KID?!"

"You didn't even let me finish! And yes, we have twins. A boy and a girl."

"Oh my gosh. I can't believe this. You're gone for seven years, and you've gone and gotten married and had kids!"

"They want to visit you."

Silence. "Really?"

"Our oldest wants to visit all the grandparents."

"When are you coming?"

She looked at me, "In a few days." I nodded.

"Okay, I'm so glad your safe and happy. How long have you been married?"

"About four months."

"Did you have-"

"Do not finish that question!"

"Okay, okay!"

"We should be going, goodnight mom."

"Goodnight, Melissa."

"See you soon." She hung up and collapsed onto my lap. "Ugh, even that was just exhausting! I can't believe that we're going to visit my parents soon! Wait, how will we teleport our kids?" "How about this; the night before, while the twins are sleeping, we teleport to a hotel and spend the night there?" She nodded and started to fall asleep on my lap. "Come on, let's head to bed." But I was too late, she had already fallen asleep on me. I laughed and carried her to our bed. I laid her down and got ready. _I guess I should call Father, tell him we're coming_. I thought. I whispered to Mel what I was going to do, she mumbled something and tried to reach for my hand but fell back asleep. I went back to the living room and called my father.

"Hello?"

"Hello, father. It's Zane."

"Hey, Zane! How are you doing?"

"I am doing well, my daughter wishes to visit you tomorrow."

"You have a daughter?"

"Yes, and a son."

"Congrats, Zane!"

"Thank you, is it possible to visit you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, what time?"

"Around ten."

"Great. By the way, how's the Mrs. Julien?"

"She is doing well. She's asleep in our room."

"That's nice. Is that all, Zane?"

"Yes. Thank you, father."

"Goodnight, Zane."

"Goodnight." I hung up the phone and went down the hall to our room. Both the twins were sleeping in their beds as I checked in. I created a small white and blue stuffed dragon and placed it by Xavier. He wrapped his arms around it and snuggled with it. I smiled and walked into our bedroom. Mel was facedown on the bed and completely knocked out. I tapped her shoulder and she slowly woke up. "Is it morning already?" she moaned. "No, it's still nighttime. Father is looking forward to see us." She smiled and rolled over, I climbed into bed and she wrapped her arms around me. "Goodnight, Zane..." she mumbled. "Night."


	18. Chapter 18

I woke when I felt an empty spot next to me. I noticed that Mel wasn't there, and grew nervous. I started to get out of bed when she walked in, holding a breakfast tray. "Told you I would make you breakfast one day." she said as she placed the tray on my lap. I smiled, "Thank you, I have to admit you scared me when I didn't see you." "I'm sorry, I had to make something for you though." She sat down next to me and yawned. "I got up pretty early, but I was glad to do it. Are we visiting Dr. Julien today?" I nodded, "Yes, he is expecting us around ten." She looked at the clock and nodded, "Okay, I'm going to wash the dishes. When you're done, could you wake the kids?" I nodded as she walked into the hall.

After I was done, I walked into the children's room. Both were sleeping still, I woke Xavier up first. "Time to get up, Xavier." He slowly woke, smiled at me and held out his arms. I picked him up and he wrapped his arms around me, then I woke up Rosalina. She groaned and hid her face as I tried to get her up. "Come on, Rosie. Time to get up." She covered her head with her pillow. _I know I have seen this before_. I leaned down and whispered, "If you don't wake up, you won't get to visit grandpa..." She shot up and said hurriedly, "I'm up, I'm up!" I smiled as she got up and held my hand, then we walked into the living room. Mel was just heading out of the kitchen as we came in. "Morning, everyone. Nice hairstyle, Rosie!" she joked. Rosie jumped into her arms and said, "Are we visiting grandpa today?" She nodded and smiled. "Yep, in a few hours! Now, breakfast is almost done for you two." "You aren't eating?" I asked. She shook her head, "I already ate."

After the kids ate, we got dressed. Rosie decided to wear a blue and white dress and Xavier wore a gray vest with a snowflake pattern. "Ready?" she asked, I nodded as we walked outside. Suddenly, a massive blast of wind overcame us, our kids laughed as we tried to keep our balance. "What is that?!" I called over the wind. Mel just smiled, then Ultra Dragon landed in front of us. "Mommy, daddy? What's that?" Rosie asked, completely unfazed by the massive four-headed dragon. "That's Ultra Dragon, sweetie. They're very friendly, come on." We walked over and Shard lowered his head. Rosie petted him and he started to purr contently. "How did they know to come?" I asked. She smiled and said, "I told you I got up early, I asked if they could come around nine to give us a lift." Rosie and Xavier sat on our shoulders as we climbed onto the dragon. I took the reins as Mel held onto our kids, Ultra Dragon took off and headed towards the Birchwood Forest.

Rosie laughed as we flew, but Xavier held onto Mel with all his strength. As we grew closer to my old home, the temperature started to drop until we could see our breaths. Rosalina and Xavier held onto Mel to keep warm. She glowed slightly as she used the fire element to warm the children. Eventually, we landed in front of a massive Birch tree, where my father walked out and greeted us. "Zane! Melissa! It's wonderful to see you two!" he called as we landed. "Grandpa!" Rosie called as we walked over, she ran over into his arms as he laughed. "Well, hello there, young lady! And who's this?" "That is Rosalina, our oldest. And this is Xavier." I introduced. Mel walked over with Xavier, he was still very shy around new people. "Go ahead and take them inside." Father said. She nodded and led them inside, Rosie gasped when she saw that the tree was hollow.

I turned to my father and said, "Both Rosalina and Xavier are part-nindroid, but they don't know it yet. When Mel realized that she was pregnant, it took only three weeks for them to fully develop. They were born only four days ago, and both have control over ice and snow." He stared at me in shock, "When will you tell them about you and Mel being-" "Soon, hopefully. I do not know how they would react, finding out about themselves as well." He nodded, "So they have metal in them?" "In the exact same places as Mel." He pushed his hair back and slowly exhaled. "I can't believe this, this is just...wow." I nodded and looked back at the door. "Are they developing normally? No defects or...?" I shook my head, "Completely normal, they're just growing mentally and physically ahead of their ages."

Just then, Mel poked her head out from behind the doorway, "Are you coming in soon? Rosie is really curious about your inventions." "In a few minutes." my father said. She nodded and closed the door. "It must be so nice to have young children running around. Has there been any trouble recently?" "Yes, actually. Do you know of a man called Cryptor?" My father's eyes grew wide. "Yes, why?" "He went after us before the twins were born. We were captured twice and he injected her with Dark Matter after she had given birth. He wanted us to lead his army to conquer Ninjago, and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer." "How did you escape? How is she not possessed anymore?" "We fought our way out, he's in custody at the moment. Lloyd used his energy to remove the darkness from her after the battle was done." "I'm glad you are safe, we should be heading inside. Come."

He led me inside and I was greeted with old memories and new memories colliding all at once. I remembered waking up for the first time and seeing my father greet me. I saw Rosie playing with a new invention. I remembered my father building the falcon. I saw Mel laughing as Xavier chased a small mechanical butterfly around. I remembered seeing my father pass. I saw my father holding Rosie in his lap as she played. I remembered trying to save Mel's life, all the metal and her blood everywhere. I saw Mel looking at me with love in her eyes. "Zane? Are you alright?" she asked me. I smiled and sat down next to her, "Yes, I am. I was just lost in thought at everything that's happened here." She understood completely and smiled as she rested her head on my shoulder. Rosie asked, "What's happened here?" I looked at her, "I grew up here. I've lived most of my life here, Rosie." "You were born here?" I nodded. "I guess you could call it that." Mel whispered. We talked with my father for many hours as the twins played with the inventions he created. As we were getting ready to leave, my father pulled Mel aside and talked to her. I helped our children onto Ultra Dragon as they talked, then my father handed her a cylinder used for carrying important papers. She thanked him and gave him a quick hug before climbing onto the dragon. I made a mental note to ask her about it later as we took off. Rosie kept waving to my father as we flew away, I smiled as we headed home.


	19. Chapter 19

Rosie and Xavier raced inside after Ultra Dragon flew away, and I pulled Mel aside and asked about the container. "What did my father give you?" She smiled and said, "I will show you later." We walked inside as Rosie called for us. "What are we doing now?" she asked excitedly. We looked at one another. "How about the lake?" Mel whispered to me. I thought about it, then agreed. "Do you want to learn how to swim?" Rosie kept exclaiming, "Yes!" while Xavier shyly nodded. "I'll grab the swimsuits." she said and walked down the hall. I packed the backpacks as Rosie kept asking about the lake. "Where is it? How do you know about it? Have you been there before?" I smiled as Mel came back and called the kids to her room to get changed.

Not long after, Rosie came running down the hall in her suit and hopped into my arms, "Daddy! Daddy! Look at my swimsuit!" "It's very pretty, Rosie." Mel and Xavier came back in, but both were wearing clothes over theirs. "Rosie, you weren't done yet." Mel said, I noticed she was holding her clothes in her hand. "I wanted to show daddy how pretty I look!" She smiled and handed Rosie her clothes. She got dressed and I handed Mel the backpacks as I went to get changed. I went to our bedroom and pulled out my suit. As I stood up, I looked in the mirror above our dresser and saw the container my father gave her hanging on the corner. I walked over but couldn't decide whether or not to open it. I decided against it, _she's going to show me anyway_. I got ready and walked into the living room. We led the kids outside to the path, where we each held one and headed towards the lake.

Halfway there, Mel started to sing. She had a beautiful voice, it made time fly just listening to her. As she finished, we came to the clearing with the lake. She turned and kissed me. "Can we swim now?" Rosie asked excitedly. "We need to get in first, hold on a sec." We got into the lake and they walked up to the shoreline and looked down into the water. "Alright, we're going to hold you and teach you how to swim, okay?" Mel asked. They nodded, Rosie jumped into my arms as Xavier slowly waded into the water. "It's okay, Xavier. I'm right here, I won't let go. If you're going to float, I will warn you, okay?" she promised. He nodded as they started to tread. Throughout the day, we taught them to tread, front stroke, back stroke and to float. Floating scared Xavier, Rosie and I swam over to them and helped with his fears. "We are right beside you, we won't let anything happen." I promised him. "My hands are right underneath you, so you won't sink." Mel said. Finally, he nodded and started to float. "Just relax, you're doing great!" "Way to go, Xavier!" Rosie cheered. He smiled and turned back to treading. "Can we swim freely?" Rosie asked. "Stay in the shallow end, stay close and don't leave our sight." Mel said. She agreed and started to swim around, while Xavier stayed by us. Mel sighed as she leaned against me, "This is so nice." She traced my faintly visible panel as we watched Rosie swim.

Just then, I felt someone tap my arm. I turned and saw it was our son. "Is something wrong?" He pointed to my chest, and I felt my heart stop. "Yes Xavier, that's my chest." He then pointed to his and traced the faintly visible line of his panel. "Oh dear..." Mel whispered. "Is something wrong?" she asked, but we both knew what he was going to do next. He slowly opened it and looked at us. "What is this?" he asked quietly. We looked at it, it was an exact image of ours. "Come here." Mel picked him up and gently placed his hand on her chest. His fingers felt the edges of her panel, and his eyes grew wide in shock. "I will explain it later, okay? I promise." He nodded and Mel closed his panel. I saw Rosie kept swimming in a circle in the shallow end and I smiled. "Is it alright if I meditate for awhile?" I asked her. She nodded and said, "Go ahead, I'll watch the kids."

I dove to the bottom and started to meditate, thinking about our plans for the next few days before I cleared my mind. It felt as if several minutes had passed before I opened my eyes, I swam for the surface to get a breath of air. I looked around and saw Mel and the kids in the shade with a picnic spread out. "I was wondering when you'd pop up for air!" As I swam out, I asked, "How long was I under for?" "Twelve minutes. The kids were getting worried when you hadn't come come up after several minutes." She tossed me a towel as I sat down on the blanket. "What were you doing, daddy?" Rosie asked. "I was meditating. It helps me think." I said. Xavier looked at Mel and pointed to her chest.

She nodded, "Xavier, Rosie. You two need to know something." Rosie looked curious when she spoke. Mel opened her panel, Rosalina's eyes grew wide and Xavier cocked his head to the side. "What's that, mommy?" Rosie asked. "This is my panel. Many years ago, I was in a battle with an evil entity but was injured badly. Daddy saved my life by doing this to me. When I became pregnant with you two, somehow you both were born this way as well." Rosalina stared at her in shock. Mel had closed hers but Xavier had reopened his panel and wouldn't stop looking at it. "Do I have it?" Rosie asked quietly, "What about Daddy?" I nodded and showed her both. "Is it bad? Will it hurt us?" she asked. I shook my head. "It's not bad. And it won't hurt you, it's a part of you, just as your fingers and toes are." Mel said. "Are you alright? This is a lot to process." Both nodded, "Will we be treated differently because of this?" I picked her up and placed her in my lap. "No one will treat you differently. This is who we are, and no one can change that." I said. She nodded and rested against me.

Mel decided to change the subject, "Rosie, guess what?" "What?" "Tomorrow, we're going to visit your grandma and grandpa!" She perked up, "Really?! Then who was that we visited earlier?" "That was your grandpa on my side of the family. Tomorrow is your mom's side." I explained. Rosie smiled, "Where do they live?" "They live...far away. We're leaving tonight after we pack." "We're staying for awhile?" "A few days. We're going to a hotel, then after we spend the day with grandma and grandpa, I'll show you around!" Xavier smiled and Rosie started bouncing excitedly. "Can we go start packing?" Mel looked over at me, and I nodded. Mel packed up the picnic as Rosie jumped into my arms. "She is her daddy's girl." Mel said, looking at me. I smiled and we started heading back to home, I could tell she was singing the song again. _"Let it go! Let it go! I'm one with the wind and sky!"_ she sang. "Daddy, why is mommy singing that?" Rosie asked. "I believe that it makes her happy to sing." She nodded and we went inside to change. After I helped Rosie and Xavier change, I heard Mel call for me. I walked into our bedroom and found Mel sitting on the bed, holding the container. I sat next to her as she said, "Father gave me this earlier, he trusts me with it." "What is it?" She took off the lid and a blue piece of paper slid out, she handed it to me. "Open it." I slowly unrolled it and stared in shock at it. "M-my blueprints.." She nodded, "He trusts me greatly. He gave it to me, believing that you would want to keep this in a safe place." I stared in silence at the paper, at what was used to create me. "Thank you." I whispered.


	20. Chapter 20

That night, we had the suitcases packed and ready to go. Both Xavier and Rosalina had already fallen asleep as I planned. We each held one as we teleported to the hotel, both were holding on to their stuffed animals and Xavier was sucking on his thumb. Mel checked in and we walked to our room and laid them down on the second bed. Mel tucked them in and climbed into bed. "Tomorrow is going to be so much fun." she said sarcastically. "Can I say I'm a little nervous meeting your parents." She held my hand and said, "I'm nervous too. I just hope they don't say or do anything embarrassing!" She yawned as her eyes started to close, "But we really should be getting some..." She dropped off mid-sentence and fell asleep. I called the front desk asking for a wake-up call, then fell asleep.

I woke up around seven, everyone else was still asleep. I walked over to the window and looked out; I saw the sun rising over the Mississippi River and a town some distance to the left. I smiled and changed my clothes, waiting for everyone else to awaken. At eight, as promised, the phone rang, I answered then woke Mel up, "Time to get up, we're meeting your parents in an hour." She shot awake, then looked around confused momentarily. "Right... Thanks Zane." she said. She walked over and woke up Rosalina and Xavier. "Come on, you two. Let's get dressed then we can head to grandma's." Rosie jumped out of bed and got ready while Xavier held out his arms. Mel helped him get dressed, then she changed after him. "I will be right back." she said, then walked out of the room. "Where's mommy going?" Rosie asked as I picked them up. "I never know."

She came back a few minutes later and told us our ride was ready. "Is it Ultra Dragon?" Rosie asked and Xavier paled slightly. She shook her head, "No, it's not as nice as Ultra Dragon. Come." We walked outside and saw a white SUV ready. "Is that for us?" "Yes it is." We helped them into their seats and buckled them in. "Is it your parents'?" "No, I got it for us. I'll drive." We climbed in and she drove through the small town. "We can walk through here later if you wish." "That sounds nice." I smiled as we drove through the town, going parallel to the river. We drove past different homes and drove into the rural areas, eventually passing fields of corn where Mel mumbled, "How you know if you're in Iowa if all you see are fields of corn." We pulled into a gravel driveway and parked in front of the detached garage. After we got the kids out, we looked at her old home. It was a yellow farmhouse with a white barn and a small chicken coop.

"Come, let's meet the grandparents." Mel held Xavier and I held Rosie as we walked up the stone path to the side door. She knocked on the door and we waited for someone to answer. "Rosalina, Xavier; don't tell grandma about what we talked about yesterday." "Why?" "I don't know how she would react. Okay?" Both nodded, then the door opened. A woman with deep blond hair stared at us, "Melissa? It is you!" She pulled her and Xavier into a hug and started laughing. "Mom! We..can't...breathe!" "Sorry! Come in, come in!" We were ushered in and brought into the living room and sat down on the couch. Rosie and Xavier sat on our laps as Mel's mom sat on the chaise across from us. "Mom, this is Xavier Zane, our youngest. Rosalina Elsa, our oldest. And Zane, my wonderful husband." Rosie waved happily and Xavier hid in her arms. "My name's Anne, nice to meet you, Zane." We shook hands and smiled. "So, how did you two meet?" "I had just gotten to Ninjago and had been wandering around for awhile. I went to Jamanakai Village and was there when the Hypnobrai attacked. I was the only person, other than the Ninja and Nya to not be hypnotized. They took me in and I trained to be a ninja with them." "Nya was happy to have another girl at the monastery. We went through many adventures together and she helped us very much over the years." I said. "I can't believe that what your saying is actually true. Has anything big happened over the years?" she asked. "Well, we've faced snakes, stone warriors, traveled back in time, turned into kids, tried to prevent the Final Battle and fought the Overlord. We got married and had these two." Mel said, but when she mentioned the Overlord she subconsciously touched her chest. "So Zane, you're a-" "Why don't you kids go explore the house?" Mel interrupted.

Rosie nodded excitedly and pulled Xavier out of the room and raced upstairs. "Why did you do that?" "Did you have to mention that now?! They just found out yesterday!" Mel hissed. Anne held her hands up in surrender, "I was just curious!" I nodded, "Yes, I am. I've been like this since I was created." Just then, Rosie called from the stairs asking which room was Mel's. "First door on the left, if you want to explore with them." I had to admit, I was curious to see her old room. I went up the stairs and saw them poking their heads into the room, I opened the door and looked around. It had purple walls and white furniture, a bookshelf overflowing with books and filled with knick-knacks. Her toy chest had books, toys and pictures on top, her dresser had different toy vehicles all over it and her desk had many figurines on it. Xavier walked over and picked one up, then brought it over to me. He put it in my hand and I stared at the miniature replica of me. I looked closely at her room and I noticed all of the objects that were about the ninja and me. Our vehicles, Lloyd's dragon, books about us. I placed the figurine back in its spot and smiled. Each one was placed perfectly, and I saw everyone was there. "Zane? You okay?" I heard her call from the living room. "Yes, we're fine!" I called back. Rosalina raced down the stairs when Mel called, but Xavier stayed with me. He picked up a pile of books and tapped my arm to get my attention. I looked down and saw the title _Night of the Nindroids_. "Can we go see mommy?" he asked. I nodded and put the book down, I picked him up and walked downstairs to the living room. Mel and Rosie looked up and saw us. "Zane, come on over here." Anne said. We walked over and sat on the couch.

"How did you propose?" Anne asked. "Mom!" I smiled, "It's fine, at my brother's wedding I took her out onto the dance floor and after a few minutes, I took her to the center and proposed." Anne sighed, "I wish I could've been at the wedding." Mel looked down, slightly guilty. "So, how old are you two?" she asked our kids. "I'm five days old!" Rosie said excitedly. "Do you mean five years?" She shook her head, "Nope, five days!" Anne looked at us and we nodded. "They were born five days ago. Three weeks ago, I became pregnant with them, and they grew extremely fast." Anne looked completely amazed, "So in Ninjago, it takes three weeks for children to develop?" I shook my head, "No. It usually takes nine months, but we were an unusual case." She stared at us, her mouth slightly open. "How unusual. So, do you work?" We shook our heads, "No, stay at home parents and Ninjas whenever we're needed." "But how do you make payments on mortgages and the bills?" I didn't know how she did it, to be honest. When we were looking at our home, she said that she could pay for the mortgage. "I have my ways.." was all she said. Anne slowly nodded, "What's it like, in Ninjago?" "It's beautiful, with many fields and villages scattered everywhere. We've been all over the country, from the Birchwood Forest to the Fire Temple and everywhere in between." "Now is everything named after the elements?" "No, only a few places are. The Fire Temple held the Dragon Sword of Fire, where our Sensei had hidden it many years ago." I said. "So what's Spinjitzu?" "An ancient martial art we were taught. We are able to turn into an elemental tornadoes after much practice." "I know it has different colors, what's yours, Melissa?" "Silver." "Could I see it?" "Not inside."

Mel looked at the clock and saw it was getting late, "We should be heading back to the hotel. It was nice to see you, mom." Anne looked disappointed, "Are you sure? It's only three." She nodded, "I'm sure." "Well, thank you for coming home. I'm glad to see your happy and well." We got up and she gave us all hugs, then we headed out to the car. We buckled the kids in, Xavier had fallen asleep while Rosie was still awake. We waved and headed back to the hotel. "She seemed nice." I said. She smiled faintly, "She is. I'm glad my dad wasn't home at the time." "Why?" "He's...intimidating. Besides, he's immature and I wouldn't want you to see it." We fell into silence, so I decided to change topics. "When we were looking in your old room, I saw a book and was curious about it." "Which one?" "_Night of the Nindroids_." She looked slightly shocked. "They kept my stuff?" she muttered. "What?" "It's a graphic novel, about the Ninjago franchise." "Ninjago franchise?" "Here, we are a show. You saw the vehicles in my room, and the minifigures?" I nodded. "It's from the show, if little kids walk up to you and say that you look like Zane from Ninjago, just go with it." I nodded and we pulled into the hotel parking lot. I carried Xavier into our room with Rosalina as Mel parked the car. Eventually she came in and laid down on the bed, Rosie crawled up next to her. "When do you want to walk around town?" she asked tiredly. "When Xavier wakes from his nap." She didn't reply. I didn't realize Rosie and Mel both fell asleep until I glanced over. I smiled and pulled out a computer and decided to look at what we could do, but I became lost in thought and started to think about the final battle.


	21. Chapter 21

*Flashback*

As we climbed the Garmatron fortress, approximately halfway up, we heard a loud noise. I looked up and saw a large cloud of dark matter head straight for us, then I heard Jay yell, "Look out!" We turned and saw Cole had just been hit. "Just go! Go on...without me!" he told us. We continued climbing but then the loud noise was heard again, but this time Jay was hit. Kai and I went back to help Lloyd the rest of the way up, Mel turned and said, "You take him to the top, I'll distract the Overlord." She shifted into a white dragon and flew to the top as we carried Lloyd. I calculated the odds that only one would make it all the way to the top when I heard Dark Jay and Cole behind us. I told Kai and Lloyd to continue to the top as I drew my blade, I could hear the battle between Mel and the Overlord and knew it was going very badly. Then I heard her scream. I looked up and saw her fall off of the building and plummet to the ground, I saw three large claw marks across her chest and wings. We locked eyes as she fell, I could feel my heart sink. And then I felt the worst burning feeling as the dark matter hit me, all I could feel was anger as my thoughts were clouded by darkness. My memory became blurred until Lloyd unlocked his potential.

After the battle with the Overlord was finished, and everyone was on Ground Zero of the Garmatron, I saw Mel in the center of the crater, she was back in her human form. I ran over to her when she didn't move. Everyone rushed over to her side as I knelt beside her, there was so much blood everywhere. She slowly turned and smiled wearily at me. "We...won?" I nodded as tears streamed down my face, "Yes. We did." I looked at my father, "We have to save her! She doesn't have much time left!" "There is only one way, but we need to hurry." I picked her up, and saw the extent of her damage that the Overlord had done, and followed my father onto Ultra Dragon. Cole took the reins as my father explained his idea, "We are going to try and convert her to be a nindroid, but only for the areas that are severely damaged."

She grew paler and started shivering in my arms as we flew closer to the treehouse, "I...feel..c-cold.." she whispered. "We're in the Birchwood Forest, you're going to be alright." Finally we landed and my father and I rushed inside, I laid her down on the table as my father came over with his tools. "We need anything close to anesthesia, otherwise the pain will be unbearable for her." The only idea I could think of was creating a layer of ice on her body and around her head as numbing agent, but her breathing was getting more labored as we got ready. "Z-Zane...?" she whispered. "I'm right here, you're going to be alright." "I...love you..I..always have.." "I love you too. You're going to survive this. I know you will!" I said, tears kept streaming down my face. She smiled, then passed out. "We need to work fast, Zane. We have to get her new heart in before her old one stops."

We worked for hours, even in her unconscious state, she still screamed in pain. Everyone waited outside as we worked, checking in every so often. Then, many hours later, it was time to transfer in her new heart. "That one will not adjust to the changes in her body, the power source will be twice as powerful and last longer than her old heart. But we need to act quickly, or she will die." I held her new source, and noticed that it was completely identical to mine. "Ready? One...two...three!" The transfer was quick, and for several seconds, her new heart didn't work and she wasn't breathing. Finally, it glowed and pulsed as a normal heart would. She gasped for air and tried to catch her breath. We breathed a sigh of relief. "We're done. She's going to be fine." my father said, relieved. I closed her new panel as her breathing returned to normal, her color was returning slowly. My father went to tell the others the good news, I felt tears come as I held her hand.

Everyone came in quietly and looked at her, I asked if Kai could melt the ice layer. He summoned his element and melted the ice as everyone celebrated our accomplishments over the day. Jay and Kai wouldn't leave Nya's side and Lloyd talked with the new Garmadon. Everyone eventually left, giving us some space as Mel recovered slowly. She remained unconscious for seventeen more hours, before finally waking. I remained by her side as she was unconscious and smiled when she woke. "...Zane..? W-where am I?" she quietly asked. "You're in my old home, you've been unconscious for twenty-three hours." She tried to sit up, but grimaced and held her midsection in pain, I gently pushed her back down. "You need to rest. You fell over seventy-five stories and just went through surgery." She looked around, "Where are the others?" "They left hours ago. They wanted to give you space to recover." She quietly said, "Thank you." I nodded and smiled. She then passed out again.

"Zane?"..."Zane!"..."ZANE!" I shot awake and looked around, confused. "Zane, are you alright?" I turned and saw Mel standing next to me, looking nervous and tired. I slowly nodded and rubbed my eyes, "Yes, I'm alright. What time is it?" "It's ten. I got worried when you didn't come to bed and saw you asleep at the computer." I looked and noticed the room was dark and the children were asleep in their bed. "I've been asleep for seven hours?" She nodded, "Guess we're both tired, huh?" She held out her hand and we climbed into bed. "I thought Rosie was sleeping with you?" "I moved her to their bed when I woke." She cuddled with me. "Tell me what you dreamed about tomorrow.." she yawned, then fell asleep. I closed my eyes and finally dozed off.

She barely moved after the surgery, she slept most of the day except for the sudden surges of pain. Three days after the surgery, she finally woke. Mel wanted to try to walk as I slept. She carefully swung her legs off of the table and slowly slid down. Instantly, she collapsed to the ground. I woke when I heard her fall and rushed to her side. "What happened?!" "I tried to walk, but my legs gave out on me." I helped her back up. "Could you help me? I really need to move around." I nodded and she leaned on me for support. We walked slowly across the room and started to head back when she stopped in front of the mirror. "How long was I out for? It couldn't have been more than a few hours." "Three days." She looked shocked, "What?" "You've been unconscious for three days."

She was silent for a few minutes, "My memory's still fuzzy, what happened after the final battle?" "What's the last thing you remember?" "I was fighting the Overlord and he was about to hit you with dark matter. I had to spread out my wings to try to block it, but he had slashed my wings and...a few things after." I sighed, "The Overlord cut your chest severely and you fell from the top of the Garmatron. Lloyd unleashed his potential and all of Ninjago was purged from the darkness." "What happened to Garmadon?" "Both the darkness and the Devourer's venom were removed from him. Everyone checked in on you while you were unconscious." "You said that I went through surgery, do I have scars from it?"

I remained silent and looked away. "Zane? What happened?" "You were dying, there was only one way to save your life." "What do you mean?" I opened her new panel on her chest. Her color drained so much that she became paler than me. "I-I'm a..." "Partial-nindroid. There's metal in your arms and chest. You have a new heart as well." Tears started rolling down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry. There was nothing else to do, if we didn't do this, you would've died." "I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm crying because I know my family will do anything to save my life." I held her to my chest and smiled, then quietly said, "There was one other thing." "What?" "Well...you said..that.." "That I loved you?" "You remember?!" She smiled wearily, "I remember you said you loved me too." I couldn't hold it back, I laughed and twirled her around. She leaned up to me and we kissed. "I love you, Zane." "I love you, Mel."


	22. Chapter 22

"Daddy, time to get up!" "Come on, daddy! If you don't get up, you won't get a hug!" "Zane, come on. It's past eleven, the children are getting antsy." I slowly woke and saw Xavier sitting next to me and Rosie resting on my chest. "I'm sorry, I must be exhausted." Rosie gave me her hug and climbed off the bed. I sat up and saw they were dressed, "That's right, we were going to LeClaire today." I got dressed and we went out to the car. "What were you dreaming about? You kept mumbling something but I couldn't tell." "I had flashbacks from the final battle. I remembered your surgery and what happened after." She smiled and held my hand. We got out of the car and looked at the small town. "Where do you want to start?" "Let's just walk around, I know some great stores to visit." We walked throughout the town, visiting several stores including a popcorn shop. Rosie wanted to try all the different kinds, and we ended up getting a small bag for each of us. After awhile, we strolled along the river as I told her about my 'dreams'. When Rosie and Xavier fell asleep, Mel placed them in a stroller and we walked around for a few hours before going to a nice restaurant to lunch. "This has been wonderful. Thank you for showing us around." She nodded, "I haven't been here in years, and it feels like nothing's changed. But yet everything's changed! And I wouldn't change anything about it." We went back to the hotel and packed our suitcases as the kids slept, then we went home.

We tucked each one in their beds and went to the living room. We collapsed onto the couch, exhausted. "That was so nice, just the four of us." I nodded, "I got you something." She turned and smiled. "Zane! You didn't have to!" I pulled out a long box and opened it, she gasped. "It's beautiful! I absolutely love it!" I placed the necklace gently around her neck and she hugged me. It was a glassy blue snowflake on a silver chain, and it fit her perfectly. "Thank you so much, Zane! I wish I got you something though." "Your love is enough for me." She smiled and we kissed. "What should we do tomorrow?" she asked. Just as she finished her question, our home phone rang. "Huh, perfect timing!" she laughed. I answered, it was Nya. "Hello?" "Zane! How's it going?" "Very well, we just came back from Iowa after a long day. What about you and Jay?" "Very well, we have a big announcement that we're going to tell everyone tomorrow. Can you come over around ten-ish?" I covered the phone and asked Mel. "Of course, what's the announcement?" I shrugged, "Yes, what's the announcement?" "We're not saying until tomorrow. See you then!" She hung up, leaving me confused. "Well alright then. Looks like we've got our plans for tomorrow." She kept playing with her new necklace and smiled. "We should be heading to bed." I held out my hand and she took it, and we walked to our room trying to figure out the mysterious announcement.


	23. Chapter 23

I woke when I felt something shifted across my chest, I opened my eyes and it was Mel. She was draped across me and was smiling, I slowly and carefully moved her off and got out of bed. I started to the door when Mel mumbled my name, I turned and saw she was feeling around for me but eventually settled for my pillow. I walked over to the twins' room and looked in, Rosie was in the center of the room, staring at her shaking hands. "Rosie, are you alright?" I asked, then I saw the snowflake pattern on the ground. "I didn't mean to do it, daddy! It just happened! I'm so sorry!" "It's okay, it's okay. What happened?" Her hands started glowing blue and she started to cry, "It's happening again!" She shook her hands and accidentally aimed at one of the walls. A ball of blue snow shot at it, creating another snowflake design. I stared at the new snowflake, then touched the one on the ground. It felt like snow, but it was imprinted in the carpet.

"I'm so sorry, daddy! I can't control it!" I walked over and held her in my lap, "I'm not mad, Rosie. You're still new to your powers, you'll learn how to control it as you grow older." She nodded and looked at the flake on the wall. "I will be right back." I picked up Xavier and placed him next to Mel, she instantly wrapped her arms around him. I went back to Rosie and knelt by her. "Rosie, how did you summon it?" "I don't know! I woke up and my hands started glowing, I tried to shake it off but I stomped my foot and that appeared!" She pointed to the snowflake on the ground. "How were you feeling when you woke? Were you excited, nervous, scared?" "I was happy, until my hands glowed. Then I got scared and freaked out!" I nodded, "It's your emotions, the stronger emotions will cause stronger reactions. Try to calm down and summon snow." "What if that happens again?! What if I hurt you?! What if I cause that again?!" I held her hands, "Don't worry about it. Just relax and let it go." She hesitated, but agreed eventually. "Just close your eyes, take a deep breath and let the snow out." She closed her eyes and sighed, and soon her hands glowed a light blue. She held out her hands, palms up, and soon a swirl of snow appeared and circled around us. The snow then started to change her nightgown, swirling around and turning it into a beautiful blue gown. "Rosie...it's-" "Beautiful."

Rosie opened her eyes and we turned to the doorway, Mel was standing there with Xavier in her arms, still asleep and sucking on his thumb. "What's beautiful?" She finally looked at her new gown and gasped. "Where did this come from?" "You did that, Rosie. See what happens when you control your emotions." She twirled in her dress and laughed. "You should wear that when we go to Aunt Nya's today." Mel said. "We're going to visit Aunt Nya?" I nodded, "In about an hour." She started jumping and twirling, swirls of snow leapt from her hands and circled us. Xavier slowly woke, "What's going on?" "Rosie's excited about visiting her favorite aunt. Let's get dressed and then we can head over." I nodded and left to go change. Soon, we headed outside, then Rosie asked, "Are we going on Ultra Dragon?" "He's only for long distances, but I've got a different way to travel. Close your eyes and don't open until we say, and no peeking!" Rosalina and Xavier covered their eyes and Rosie giggled, Mel and I linked arms and teleported to their house. We were about ten minutes early, but Rosie couldn't wait to see them.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now." Rosie gasped and looked around, amazed, "How did we get here so fast?" Mel smiled, "Magic!" She waved her free hand and a swirl of snow appeared. Xavier smiled and tried to catch it. Rosie knocked on the door, and started bouncing excitedly. Jay answered the door and smiled, "Zane, Mel! Come on in!" Rosie rushed in as Mel hugged Jay. "It's nice to see you, Jay. Invent anything good lately?" "Actually, yes! A high-powered snowmobile that can switch to a snowboard! For when you're in the Birchwood Forest." "That sounds fun, why don't you show me later?" He nodded and we sat down on the couch, Rosie climbed up between us. "By the way, Mel, Nya wishes to speak with you in the kitchen." She nodded and left. "So, what's the announcement?" Jay turned slightly pink from blushing and smiled, "I can't say yet." Just then, I heard Mel gasp from the kitchen. Rosie rushed off and ran into the kitchen. "Aunt Nya! Aunt Nya!" she yelled as she ran off. "She does love her Aunt Nya." Jay said, just as a knocking was heard on the door. He went to the door and Xavier started to play with his ice powers. He created an icicle and gave it to me. "Thank you, Xavier. It's lovely."

Then we heard Gabby and Kai at the door. "You better not have hurt my sister, or you'll have to deal with me." "Nice to see you too, Kai." They walked in and Gabby came over and smiled at Xavier. "He looks older than when I last saw him. But he looks just like you, Zane!" I smiled, "Thank you. How's it been with you and Kai?" "We're looking for our own place, actually. We're hoping for somewhere rural." "That's nice. Have you two found employment yet?" "Kai's running his blacksmith shop again, and he's gotten much better at it. We're living there until we find a place of our own." Kai walked over and sat down next his wife, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "What do you think their announcement is?" I asked. "It better not be bad, just because I got married doesn't mean I've lost my attitude." "I would've found that hard to believe. Kai, the Ninja of Fire, without an attitude." Mel, Rosie and Nya walked in and sat down as the doorbell rang. Jay answered and it was Cole and Sarah. "Hey, Jay! How's it been?" Sarah asked. "Pretty good." Jay smiled. "Now all we're missing are Lloyd and Izzy."

The door opened. "I spoke too soon!" Soon everyone was gathered in the living room, Rosie sat on my lap and Xavier was on Mel's. "So, don't leave us in suspense! What's the announcement?!" Gabby exclaimed. Nya and Jay smiled at each other and Nya said, "I'm pregnant!" Mel smiled as everyone erupted into chaos, but Kai's voice was the loudest and most clear. "WHAT?! YOU GOT MY SISTER PREGNANT?!" Gabby held Kai down, preventing him from attacking Jay. "Calm down, Kai! Please calm down!" Jay scooted further away from Kai nervously. "Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" Sarah asked. Nya nodded, but Jay looked confused, "How do you already know?" "That's where I came in. I checked her aura and I could tell." Mel said. "It's a boy!" Kai finally calmed down and smiled, "Congrats sis." "Is he going to be born normally?" "Yes, he's completely normal." Everyone congratulated them and started discussing baby names. "What about Kyle?" "Jeremy?" "Christian?" "Jayden?" " I feel like I've heard that before.." Nya and Jay smiled at one another, "How about Jason?" "That's perfect!"

Just then, Cole's phone rang. He stepped outside and answered. "What's that about?" Sarah asked. A few minutes later, Cole walked back in, paler than before. "What's wrong?" I asked. "That was the police, Cryptor wasn't there when they arrived. He's on the loose right now." Mel paled instantly, and started to shake slightly. "Mommy, what's wrong?" She put Xavier on the couch and excused herself. She walked outside and closed the door behind her. "Daddy, what's wrong with mommy?" "We'll explain when you're older. Could you all watch over Rosalina and Xavier for a few minutes? I need to check on her." Everyone nodded and I went outside and saw Mel sitting on the porch. I sat down next to her, "Are you alright?" She wrapped her arms around me and kept shaking, "I thought we were done with him! He may still be after us and might even go after our children now!" I wrapped my arms around her and tried to comfort her. "It's alright, he doesn't know where we live, or where any of the others live. We will keep Rosalina and Xavier safe from him." She barely nodded and sighed. Then the door opened quietly, I turned and saw it was Xavier. "Mommy?" he asked.

Mel turned and wiped her eyes, "Yes, Xavier?" He walked over and hugged her, "Why are you sad?" "Uh..I will explain later. I promise." He nodded and sat on her lap. The sky became dark gray as we sat on the porch. "We should head back inside. Rosie's probably wondering about us now." She nodded and we walked back inside, Rosie raced into my arms. "Where did you go, daddy?" she asked. "I had to check on mommy." We sat back down and talked for another hour, before deciding to head home. As we walked out the door, thunder rumbled in the distance. "What's that?" Rosie asked. "Thunder, sweetie. We should be inside before it starts to rain. Close your eyes and don't open till we say!" Mel told them. Both covered their eyes and we teleported home.


	24. Chapter 24

We arrived outside as it started to rain. We rushed inside as the downpour started, Rosie and Xavier stared out the window at the rain. Suddenly a flash of lightning lit up the room. Mel started to ask, "What was-" when thunder shook the house, "that." Xavier ran into her arms and hid. "Daddy?!" Rosie sounded panicked. I picked her up and she looked scared. I comforted her as lightning flashed again. Mel hushed Xavier and sat down on the couch, just as the power shut off. "Daddy! What happened?!" Rosie asked, frightened. "Its a power outage, sweetie. Everything's alright." Mel lit candles around the room, giving some light. Thunder rumbled and both hid in our arms. "We have to find a way to distract them from the storm." I said. Mel perked up, "How about a pillow fort?" Both turned to her, "A what?" "Pillow fort! We use all the pillows in the house and create a small fort from the storm! How does that sound?" Both nodded excitedly. "Now go find all the pillows you can and bring them here." Both ran off and Rosie laughed from her room. "Daddy? Why are there so many pillows on our beds?" she called. I turned to Mel, she winked mischievously. We walked into their room and saw their beds were covered in pillows. We grabbed as many as we could and brought them to the living room, dumping them in a pile. Mel took the cushions off of the couches and started on the exterior of the fort. Rosie and Xavier started piling on the smaller pillows around the walls. "Zane, Rosie; do you two want to go find some blankets to add on?" Rosie raced off as lightning flashed again and I followed her. Rosie grabbed the blankets off of her bed and Xavier's, I took the comforter from our bed and we brought them back to the living room. Mel was moving some pillows around as we came back. "Where's Xavier?" I asked, looking around. Just then, he popped his head out from an opening and waved. "He's been making the inside comfy." Mel said.

After we placed the comforter on the top, we crawled inside and both kids wrapped themselves in their favorite blankets. "Can you tell us a story?" Rosie asked, snuggling into her blanket. "What kind of story?" Mel asked. "Who's Cryptor?" Xavier asked quietly. "Oh dear.." Mel muttered, "Cryptor is a very bad man who wanted us to bad things for him." "Is he the man you were yelling at?" Rosie asked, catching on to what Xavier was asking. I slowly nodded, "Yes, after you two were born, he came for us again. I fought to protect you from him." Thunder rumbled again. "What did he want from us?" "He wanted us to lead an army to take over Ninjago." "How did he find us?" "I don't know how he found us. When your aunts took mommy to the hospital, we were taken from there and had to escape before you two were born. We were able to escape and you two were born at a hospital, but he found us again. We were captured and almost fell under his control, but thankfully escaped." Xavier crawled onto Mel's lap and hid, "Why is he after us?" Mel stroked his hair, "I don't know sweetie. But we promise to protect you both from him." Xavier nodded and started to fall asleep on her. "Rosie, do you want to learn how to read?" I asked her, she nodded excitedly. I summoned a book and a flashlight, Rosie crawled onto my lap and we started to read.


	25. Chapter 25

_Disclaimer: I do not own frozen, Disney does._

A few hours later, the power had finally turned back on. Both twins had fallen asleep on us after a few chapters. Mel said quietly, "I've noticed something with Xavier, he is very observant and quick to learn. Every time I promise to explain something to him, he always asks a few hours later." "I've noticed that as well, he wants answers quickly." "He's just like you, Zane." Mel giggled. We took them to their bedroom and laid them down, bringing back their blankets and pillows right after. Mel placed the extra pillows in the closet for another day as I got our bed back together.

In the middle of the night, I woke when I heard soft singing from the twins' room. I looked around and saw Mel was gone, I climbed out of bed and quietly walked over to their room. I looked in and saw Mel sitting in the rocking chair, Xavier was asleep in her arms. Mel was singing his favorite song to him, Rosie unconsciously cooed. After she finished, I said, "That was a lovely song." She quickly looked up at me, then smiled, "It's from one of my favorite movies. Xavier was having a nightmare so I came in and comforted him." "Did he say what he was dreaming of?" "No, he never does." "Are you coming back to bed?" "In a little bit, I want to stay with them for a little while longer." I nodded, "Alright." I went back to our bed and waited for her to come back. A few minutes later she walked in and climbed into bed, cuddling back into me. "We should watch that movie later." I said as I wrapped my arm around her. She nodded against my chest, "It's a good movie." "What's it called?" "Frozen." "Sounds interesting." With a kiss, we fell asleep quickly.

[five months later]

The day I've been dreading finally came, and it came through one phone call. "Zane, I've got bad news. Cryptor was spotted in Jamanakai Village yesterday. He was gone before we came, but he left a note for you and Mel." Cole said.

-To Be Continued-


End file.
